Chateau de Saint-Cosme
Gigondas - Côtes du Rhône - Chateauneuf du Pape
In the heart of the appellation Gigondas, the Château de Saint Cosme is an exceptio- nal estate, with its Gallo-Roman fermentation vats perfectly preserved. This fantastic historical site gives a good idea how our ancesters the gallo-romans were living. The property has been in the family since 1490 and saw 14 generations of vignerons.
It has 15 has of old vines (average 60 years old) with a yield of around 27Hos/Ha. The terroir is apparently homogeneous but it’s actually geologically very diverse as the Dentelles de Montmirail makes it very complicated. Saint Cosme is exceptionally located at the crossing of two geological faults, which is very rare. This gives an extraordinary diversity of soils. The microclimate is cool and late ripening. St Cosme Gigondas have the ability to be powerful and refined at the same time.
It was with the "savoir-faire" of a vigneron that Louis created a negociant activity in 1997 a negociant activity that one could call a "Negociant-Vigneron". During his various travels and tastings in the Rhône Valley, he often thought that many great terroirs were under-exploited. He really liked some locations and wanted to try. Louis's wish was to become a negociant which would work with the spirit of a vigneron using ancient methods. This meant: being and remaining a small producer, be followed by winemakers having the same ambition, transport wines in casks to avoid to rack them and kill their fruit, trying to do only nice things every day.
At Saint Cosme they usually work “à la main”. Louis wants to make wines which express their terroir with purity and personality. He want to make balanced wines with a great ability to age.