2018 Château de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion Côtes-du-Rhône 750 ml

A year ago, the excitement about 100-point winemaker Louis Barruol’s Château de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion Côtes du Rhône led our Wine Team to take home a slew of cases. 

This year, we’re doubling our orders. 

“I can’t think of a more dense and concentrated Côtes du Rhône in the $20 tier,” said our Master Sommelier Sur Lucero, who was first to increase his share (he bought just one case last year) of this bargain bottling from Barruol, who collectors know for his iconic Gigondas. Wine Access bargain hunters know him for the insanely over-delivering Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône, far and away the #1 Rhône wine on Wine Access.

The 2018 Deux Albion is a marriage of the two, packing the ripe red fruit complexity and ageability of Barruol’s top-end wines with a bargain price—in fact, James Suckling named last year’s Deux Albion on a list of wines that drink like Châteauneuf-du-Pape for under $30.

Try under $25. Because of this wine’s near-term drinkability and best-in-class cellar potential, a full case would be wise. But as our wine team’s orders attest, there’s no reason to stop at one. And with fall and winter around the corner, there’s no such thing as too much of a wine like this. 

Dark ruby-violet with rich staining tears, the nose opens to a box of clove, anise, and cracked pepper, with warm black plum, blackberry, and cherry perfumed by fresh and dried wildflowers. The palate is open and generous, with lavender, wild game, and spiced cocktail bitters, framed beautifully by spicy tannins around the edges. Supple and juicy, it’s got incredible density, concentration, and length for a wine at this price, making it a massive overperformer.

Few names are as closely associated with the Rhône Valley as Louis Barruol’s Château de Saint Cosme. The estate dates back to 1416, and Robert Parker classifies the Saint Cosme wines as “some of the finest wines in the southern Rhône as well as France.” Barruol scored his 100-pointers with his Hominis Fides Gigondas, but as Parker noted, “consumers should not overlook the terrific value offered by his Côtes du Rhônes.”  

With Saint Cosme, it pays to be schooled on the label. The winery’s stellar Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône wines labeled “Saint Cosme” (without “Château de” in front) come from contracted vineyard sources. Only the wines that come from Barruol’s own vineyards—all of their bar-setting Gigondas, as well as the Les Deux Albion wines—bear the full “Château de Saint Cosme” name on the label. 

The 2018 consists of estate-owned Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre, and Clairette that grow in the Côtes du Rhone-Villages communes of Plan de Dieu, Saint Maurice, and Cairanne. The grapes are biodynamically raised, and whole-cluster co-fermented. After aging in a combination of wooden vats and concrete, it’s bottled without filtration to showcase the wine’s gorgeous color and full range of aromatics.

As we swirled the Deux Albion, Sur schooled us on Barruol’s methods: “Co-fermentation requires very healthy grapes and farming, and the process is the ultimate way to blend. It unifies the characteristics of several grapes into one entity, one wine, one textural experience that is both seamless and intense at the same time.”

The 2018 Les Deux Albion absolutely nails this category, and delivers a Châteauneuf-type experience through the work of a 100-point winemaker.

We’ve claimed our cases. You should do the same.