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Domaine Les Pallières 2022 ‘En Primeur’ offer
2022 VINTAGE OVERVIEW
The 2022 vintage was characterised by heat and drought, although there were come very localised hailstorms, most notably at the Brunier’s flagship estate of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, when an American-style tornado (hail and a rotating column of savage winds) swept across the Plateau de la Crau on the 14th August, destroying every leaf and berry in its path. The impact was instant and drastic, with no less than 80% of the crop being lost, making it impossible to produce a Vieux Télégraphe La Crau in 2022.
The season started well with good rainfall in the autumn of 2021 but this was short lived with water shortage and excess heat a feature of the coming months. The absence of sustained rainfall meant the soils weren’t sufficiently replenished as the growing season started. Bud burst started in early to mid April, a little later than in 2021, but thereafter the hot and dry days set in. The flowering was problem free, taking place in good conditions.
Above-average temperatures during the summer, both day and night, yielded the hottest and driest vintage since 1950! The sanitary conditions were excellent and the vines, that were beginning to close down due to the intense heat and drought, benefited from a little rain that arrived in mid August which brough them back to life.
Harvest started with the picking of the Syrah and Cinsault grapes between the 5th and 12th September and the Grenache and Mourvèdre on the 20th, 21st and 22nd.
Update from Daniel Brunier - October 2023
“In the vine garden at Pallières, some 25 km from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, there was barely any talk of tornados in the summer of 2022; The two Gigondas cuvées reached harbour unscathed.
The Terrasse du Diable cuvée is joyous, brilliant, vibrant; its floral nose is laced with garrigue, anise and black cherry; on the palate there is bramble fruit and cherry; it is both airy and densely packed, with sinewy yet well-integrated tannins. This elegant vintage is not short on richness or southern heft, and the long mineral finish is well-structured. A Terrasse du Diable of compelling personality.
The Racines cuvée has once again edged a little further up the serious scale. A nose dominated by liquorice amid a certain mellowness, with luscious red berries and cherry too.
On the palate, its structure is slightly surprising: dense, dark, radiant and fresh all at the same time. The 2022 vintage has hinterland, charm and a very serious side, but stays the right side of austere. The finish is just gorgeous and pure, and we feel the wine’s second year in barrel will be welcome.”
DOMAINE LES PALLIERES
Domaine Les Pallières, nestling in the foothills of the beautiful and brooding Dentelles de Montmirail, is undeniably one of the greatest, longest-running properties of the Southern Rhône. The vineyards range from 250-400 meters in altitude, with varying proportions of sand and clay interwoven with limestone scree descending from the Dentelles.
When the Brunier family purchased the domaine back in 1998 this great property had fallen on hard times. Years of painstaking work in the vineyards followed. Terraces were built and reinforced, allowing for better water retention. A new winery was built to receive the harvested parcels individually in gravity fed tanks.
Finally, as the Bruniers began to fully understand the vineyards at Pallières, the many lieux-dits, once blended into one cuvée of Gigondas, were separated into two, in an effort to best express two different, yet remarkable, personalities.
Gigondas Terrasse du Diable 2022, Domaine Les Pallières (6x75cl) £125.00 per case in Bond
Cuvée “Terrasse du Diable,” encompasses the low-yielding vines from the higher altitudes that express great structure and intense minerality.
What an attractive and forward bouquet, a stony fragrance, deep and opulent, displaying a black cherry perfume. The palate continues in the same vein, a core of rich, ripe red fruits, myrtle, anise, black cherry liqueur that is struck through with liquorice and garrigue. The texture of the wine is ripe, and deliciously complex, with a wonderful freshness that just enlivens the wine. The tannins are tightly knit into the structure of the wine, not overly dominant, and the finish is long and intense.
Gigondas ‘Racines’ 2022, Domaine Les Pallières (6x75cl) £141.00 per case in Bond
Cuvée ‘Racines’ showcases the vineyard parcels surrounding the winery. The origin of the domaine with the oldest vines with an emphasis on freshness and extravagant cornucopian fruit.
A riper and richer intensity on the bouquet bolstered by liquorice, spice and garrigue. The palate is tight, dense and brooding, almost closed, yet the wine opens slowly, revealing a dense core of red and black fruits, spice, meaty, almost feral notes, with an earthy, mineral-laden texture. The tannins are more dominant than the Terrasse, and the wine gives the impression of muscle and power throughout.
John, Managing Director
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