2019 Domaine de Piaugier Gigondas Rouge 750 ml

We love the big, structured, Grenache-based wines of Gigondas—but we’re strict about only offering bottles that are best-in-class, incredible values, or both. The 2019 Domaine de Piaugier is one of the very rare releases in the last category.

This bottle shows off Gigondas at its brawniest, juiciest best. It’s a bottle that red-wine lovers of all stripes should be scrambling for—yet you'll scarcely ever find it outside of some top-level restaurants.

In 2019, a vintage defined by bold richness and huge concentration, winemaker Jean-Marc Autran pulled off a stellar balance in the wine, creating a bottle that builds to a ripe crescendo yet still washes the palate with cleansing acidity. 

Autran is the great-grandson of the founder of the estate, which sits beneath the white crags of the Dentelles de Montmirail mountains on a complex mix of sand, clay, limestone, silt, and gravel. He’s a traditionalist in the vineyard—eschewing chemical sprays and fertilizers—and an even bigger one in the cellar.

Made of 65% Grenache complemented by 20% Mourvedre and 15% Syrah, this wine underwent a native-yeast fermentation that lasted four weeks, followed by vinification in concrete tanks and maturation for 18 months in large foudres. This slow, old-school approach seeks to render Gigondas character with complete typicity without sacrificing any of its freshness. The result, as you will see, is something special.