Santa Duc Gigondas les Hautes Garrigues 2016 (1.5L)

95-97 WA / 95+ JD / 95 VM / 93-94 JS

Flowering garrigue, black cherries and licorice all pop on the nose of the 2016 Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues. Full-bodied, rich, velvety and intense without being overbearing, it's a tremendous effort, with the poise, grace and charm of Disney's Fantasia ballet-dancing hippo. And the finish is long—really long. - Wine Advocate

Always the richest, most powerful wine in the lineup, the 2016 Gigondas Hautes Garrigues offers a rocking bouquet of black cherries, blackberries, bouquet garni, pepper, and fresh earth. Full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, and with building tannins, it’s certainly a more fresh, stylish example of this cuvée and is a perfect wine from readers wanting to understand the changes that have happened at this estate over the past decade or so. Give this beauty 2-4 years of bottle age and enjoy it over the following decade. - Jeb Dunnuck

Brilliant magenta. Heady blackberry, cherry and boysenberry aromas are complicated by building floral, spice and mineral flourishes. Stains the palate with intense dark fruit, lavender pastille and spicecake flavors and hints of licorice and bitter chocolate come in slowly. Shows unlikely finesse for its heft and finishes extremely long and precise with mounting tannins and resonating floral and cherry notes. - Josh Raynolds, Vinous Media

Beautifully fresh, earthy aromas of wild herbs, undergrowth, dark berries and chocolate. The palate has deep-set, smooth and juicy tannins. Long and layered, this is a commanding, elegant Gigondas. Barrel sample. - James Suckling