Placeholder Image

Château de Saint Cosme, “Les Deux Albion”

Rhône Valley, France 2015 (750mL)
$25.00
/
Your cart is empty.
  • In stock, ready to ship
  • Inventory on the way
Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Château de Saint Cosme, “Les Deux Albion”

We rarely mention critics’ scores around here. Wine ratings are flashy, but listing a wine with a couple of brief notes and a number, well, that just isn’t how we operate here at SommSelect.
However, when a top wine publication rates the 2015 Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas its Number 5 Wine of the Year, ears perk up, prices ascend, and consumers start buzzing. We keep our ears to the ground regarding accolades like this and then strive to find alternatives at a more friendly price. So, while today’s offering isn’t being touted as one of the top five wines of 2017, you’re getting a wine from the same legendary producer that I believe to be every bit as good—at just $25. “Les Deux Albion” is a Syrah and Grenache-dominant powerhouse that delivers everything I want from the Rhône: superb freshness, savor, and a depth of flavor that evokes memories of iconic producers like Domaine Gonon (located in Saint Joseph). It punches well above its weight and, at my tasting, was showing better than Saint Cosme’s more-famous appellation wines at half the price. If you haven’t already sparked an interest in Southern Rhône reds, I’d be willing to bet this bottle will ignite the fire; it’s serious wine and seriously habit-forming.
Located in Gigondas, Château de Saint Cosme claims the title of “most ancient estate of the region” and they can certainly back it. The estate’s beginnings can be traced to 1416, but we can go back even further—almost 300 additional years—to when the Saint Cosme chapel was being built. Add another millennium to that, which places us around the year 109 (!) and you’ll find a Roman villa with 25 wine vats carved directly into the rocky earth—you can still find them perfectly preserved in the cellars of Saint Cosme. Today, Louis Barruol is the caretaker of the estate and he represents the fifteenth generation of winemakers in his family. The legacy is tremendous and unmatched by most others around the world; the same also goes for their winemaking. 

“Les Deux Albion” is sourced from estate-owned vineyards in three Côtes du Rhône villages that surround Gigondas to the west-northwest: Cairanne, Plan de Dieu, and Saint Maurice. Saint Cosme’s fully biodynamic vineyards (seven years and counting) are largely planted on hillsides with nearly 40-year-old vines dug into clay, schist, and limestone marls. After harvesting by hand, the grapes were co-fermented in concrete vats and rested on their skins for a whopping six weeks, although the tannins are seamlessly (and surprisingly) integrated. The final blend consists of 50% Syrah, 20% Grenache, 15% Carignan, 10% Mourvèdre, and 5% Clairette—a white grape that makes for amazing Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc. The wine rested in a combination of wooden vats and concrete tanks for 18 months before being bottled unfiltered. 

In the glass, the 2015 “Les Deux Albion” reveals an opaque dark purple-crimson core with vivid ruby and pink reflections on the rim. On first smell, the wine releases aromas of black raspberry, black plum, red currant, wild strawberry, black pepper, red flowers, fresh violet, garrigue, crushed stone, olive and subtle hints of leather and cured meat. I sampled this ’15 over the course of three days and was wildly impressed with its continued freshness and fruit retention. As it evolved, the fruit took on a blacker profile, finishing with a lovely peppery smoke and preserved cherry notes. This is nearing full-bodied and coats the palate with a warming sensation of ripe fruit, while remaining perfectly framed by freshness. With a 30-minute decant, the wine opens right up, but as already mentioned, there is no immediate rush to drink this—it can be safely kept and enjoyed over the next 3-5 years. Serve around 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems and enjoy this next to a hearty stew with Lyonnaise potatoes. 
Placeholder Image
Country
France
Region
Rhône Valley
Sub-Region
FranceCôtes du Rhône
Soil
Clay, Schist, & Limestone Marls
Farming
Biodynamic
Blend
50% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache, 15% Carignan, 5% Clairette
Alcohol
14.5
OAK
Wooden Vats and Concrete Tanks
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Bordeaux Stems
Drinking
Now-2022
Decanting
30 Minutes
Pairing
Beef Stew w/ Lyonnaise Potatoes

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

Others We Love