Domaine Saint Damien Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu Vieilles Vignes 2022

80% Grenache, 15% Carignan, 5% Mourvèdre. This wine is sourced from the lower terraced parcels of the Plan de Dieu lieu-dit, in the commune of Violès. The Grenache and Carignan vines are over 60 years old and the Mourvèdre 30 years. The wine is fermented for 30 days in concrete vats before 8 months of aging (again in concrete). The wine is bottled without fining or filtration.

'The old vine bottling of Plan de Dieu from Joel and Romain Saurel is composed of a blend of eighty percent grenache (vines planted in 1949) and twenty percent mourvèdre (vines planted in 1978). The grapes are co-fermented in cement vats and aged in the same for eight months prior to bottling. To my palate, this is a baby Gigondas and is a superb value!'  John Gilman, View from the Cellar.

Domaine Saint Damien

Domaine Saint-Damien is run by Joel and Amie Saurel and their son Romain who has now taken charge of the winemaking. The Saurel family had been tending vineyards for four generations, dating back to 1821, and until recently had been selling all of the grapes to negociants. In 1996 Joel resumed producing wine at the estate and in 1998 they brought on consulting winemaker Philippe Cambie. Vinification is classic with wines being made in large old cement tanks and aged in either the tanks or large old foudres for the Gigondas.

Today the estate is comprised of 17 hectares of vineyards of which 12 are in Gigondas. All their vineyards are certified organic since 2012. The vines are an average age of 50 years and are very low yielding. The wines of Gigondas are bottled according to individual terroir (particularly soil type) known as the Saint Damien Trilogy.