Our December #Wineofthemonth would not look out of place being poured around a festive table. Hallgarten’s French Wine Buyer, Beverly Tabbron MW, recently described Domaine Gardiés as the ‘zenith of what this region has to offer’, with their range of wines offering ‘incredible freshness, with marked minerality and purity of fruit’.  

The Domaine Gardiés vineyards nestle in the foothills of Corbières. The vines are grown in the old plots on the Génégals,in caly-limestone soil, located on the heights of Vingrau.

In a nutshell:

An opulent and silky blend with rich notes of black cherry, layered with fig, olive and spice, beautifully balanced with ripe tannins underpinned by mineral freshness.

The producer:

Situated at the foot of the Pyrenees in the village of Tautavel, Domaine Gardiés has been a family vineyard for eight generations. Jean Gardiés took over the property from his father in the late 1990s, and subsequently crafted his own cuvées from their naturally low-yielding vines. He now works alongside his son, Victor, together they passionately cultivate their 35-hectare estate vineyard, which sits across two terraces based on clay-limestone and black slate soils in Vingrau and Tautavel – two of the finest villages of the Côtes de Roussillon.

In 1990, they purchased Mas Las Cabes, a 15-hectare estate on the Espira de l’Agly terroir. All the vines are certified organic and arecultivated with the utmost respect for the rugged and wild nature of the Roussillonregion. Understanding and nurturing the soils is at the heart of the Gardiés philosophy, and as a result, they produce delicate wines which are expressive of the terroir and are characterised by complexity, depth, structure and elegance.

The wine:

The grapes underwent traditional vinification, with maceration taking place in concrete tanks to gently extract the fruit flavours, colour and fine, elegant tannins. Fermentation took place with wild yeasts, the wine underwent light, daily punching down of the cap to ensure the desired level of extraction. The vinification time lasted for 20 to 25 days. The wine was aged for 12 months in 600 litre French oak barrels.