« Ce qu'en dit la presse… »

ROBERT PARKER
THE WINE ADVOCATE, Inc. (Oct, 2010)
2009 Domaine St Damien Cotes du Rhone le Bouveau (Oct 2010)
Rating : (90-92) - Drink : 2010 - 2013
The 2009 Cotes du Rhone La Bouveau is an intriguing blend of 80% Syrah and the rest Grenache, Cinsault, and a little Viognier, aged in concrete prior to being bottled. Delicious notes of forest flora,blue and red fruits, licorice, lavender and garrigue all combine into a classic wine of Provence.
Medium to full-bodied, with loads of fruit and a heady alcohol level of 15.1%, this beauty should drinkwell for another 2-3 years, possibly a lot longer, but who can resist it now? Both of these wines overdeliver significantly for an appellation as humble as the Cotes du Rhone, but that is the great beauty of this vast area of southern France. (Not yet released) Proprietor Joel Saurel, backed up by the inimitable Philippe Cambie as his consultant, has transformed this estate into one of the greatest in Gigondas, rivaling the two top producers, Yves Gras’ Santa Duc and Louis Barruol’s Saint Cosme.
This estate made mind-boggling 2007s, and has followed that up with top-flight 2009s. The two
value wines are nearly as good as their more expensive cuvees of Gigondas, which tells you just
how impressive this estate is. In the top vintages, Saurel’s practice is to produce three cuvees of
Gigondas. In 2009, these all tip the scales between 14.9 and 15.3% natural alcohol.
They are made from very low yields of 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare, and are aged for at least a year in old wood foudres before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. All of Saurel’s vineyards are in their second year of biodynamic farming, for those who consider that an issue.

2009 Domaine St Damien Cotes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes (Oct 2010)
Rating : (91-92) - Drink :
The 2009 Cotes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes is 90% Grenache and the rest Mourvedre and Carignan, aged in cement tank and tipping the scales at 14.8% alcohol. The average age of the vines, from the stony soils of the Plan de Dieu, is 50 years. This is another full-bodied, superbly concentrated wine with the classic black cherry marmalade/kirsch notes intermixed with licorice, spring flowers, pepper, and a hint of garrigue. This ripe, full-bodied wine is opulent, voluptuously textured, long and rich.
Both of these wines over-deliver significantly for an appellation as humble as the Cotes du Rhone, but that is the great beauty of this vast area of southern France. (Not yet released) Proprietor Joel Saurel, backed up by the inimitable Philippe Cambie as his consultant, has transformed this estate into one of the greatest in Gigondas, rivaling the two top producers, Yves Gras’ Santa Duc and Louis Barruol’s Saint Cosme. This estate made mind-boggling 2007s, and has followed that up with topflight 2009s. The two value wines are nearly as good as their more expensive cuvees of Gigondas,which tells you just how impressive this estate is. In the top vintages, Saurel’s practice is to produce alcohol.
They are made from very low yields of 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare, and are aged for at least a year in old wood foudres before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. All of Saurel’s vineyards are in their second year of biodynamic farming, for those who consider that an issue.

2009 Domaine St Damien Gigondas Cuvee Louisiane (Oct 2010)
Rating : (91-93+) - Drink : 2010 - 2025
The 2009 Gigondas La Louisiane, which is the most powerful of these wines at 15.3% alcohol,
comes from 60-year-old vines and is a blend of 80% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, and the rest tiny
percentages of Cinsault and Syrah. Deep ruby/purple with a sensational nose of crushed rock/wet
steel interwoven with blueberry liqueur, sweet black currants and black cherries, incense, and forest flora, it seems to be both powerful and elegant at the same time, with stunning purity, texture, and length, but it never comes across as heavy despite the rather lofty alcohol. This wine should drin beautifully for 10-15 years. (Not yet released) Proprietor Joel Saurel, backed up by the inimitable Philippe Cambie as his consultant, has transformed this estate into one of the greatest in Gigondas, rivaling the two top producers, Yves Gras’ Santa Duc and Louis Barruol’s Saint Cosme.
This estate made mind-boggling 2007s, and has followed that up with top-flight 2009s. The two value wines arenearly as good as their more expensive cuvees of Gigondas, which tells you just how impressive this estate is. In the top vintages, Saurel’s practice is to produce three cuvees of Gigondas. In 2009, these all tip the scales between 14.9 and 15.3% natural alcohol. They are made from very low yields of 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare, and are aged for at least a year in old wood foudres before bein bottled unfined and unfiltered. All of Saurel’s vineyards are in their second year of biodynamic farming, for those who consider that an issue.

2009 Domaine St Damien Gigondas les Souteyrades (Oct 2010)
Rating : (91-93+) - Drink : 2010 - 2025
The top cuvee is the 2009 Gigondas Les Souteyrades, which also comes from 60+-year-old vines
and is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre. Again, it is all aged in old wood foudres and bottled unfined and unfiltered. This wine plays it closer to the vest, and one can see that there is a level of density and richness that might eclipse the other two wines, but there is also more tannin and a striking near-liqueur of minerals in this wine. It is very reserved and restrained, but superconcentrated, full-bodied, and incredibly impressive, with much of the character of the La Louisiane but tighter.
It may have more up-side potential that any of these wines, but will probably need 1-3 years of bottle-age and then drink well for at least 15 years. Proprietor Joel Saurel, backed up by the inimitable Philippe Cambie as his consultant, has transformed this estate into one of the greatest in Gigondas, rivaling the two top producers, Yves Gras’ Santa Duc and Louis Barruol’s Saint Cosme.
This estate made mind-boggling 2007s, and has followed that up with top-flight 2009s. The two
value wines are nearly as good as their more expensive cuvees of Gigondas, which tells you just
how impressive this estate is. In the top vintages, Saurel’s practice is to produce three cuvees of
Gigondas. In 2009, these all tip the scales between 14.9 and 15.3% natural alcohol. They are made from very low yields of 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare, and are aged for at least a year in old wood foudres before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. All of Saurel’s vineyards are in their second year of biodynamic farming, for those who consider that an issue.

2009 Domaine St Damien Gigondas Vieilles Vignes (Oct 2010)
Rating : (91-93) - Drink : 2010 - 2025
The 2009 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes (a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre from 40-year-old vines) is a rich, full-bodied Gigondas with notes of crushed rock, boysenberry, black raspberry, camphor, and a hint of pen ink. The wine displays terrific fruit on the attack, a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel with good acid, superb purity, texture, and length. This deep ruby/purple-colored wine should drink well for at least 10-15 years. (Not yet released) Proprietor Joel Saurel, backed up by the inimitable Philippe Cambie as his consultant, has transformed this estate into one of the greatest in Gigondas, rivaling the two top producers, Yves Gras’ Santa Duc and Louis Barruol’s Saint Cosme.
This estate made mind-boggling 2007s, and has followed that up with top-flight 2009s.
The two value wines are nearly as good as their more expensive cuvees of Gigondas, which tells you just how impressive this estate is. In the top vintages, Saurel’s practice is to produce three cuvees of Gigondas. In 2009, these all tip the scales between 14.9 and 15.3% natural alcohol.
They are madefrom very low yields of 20 to 25 hectoliters per hectare, and are aged for at least a year in old wood foudres before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. All of Saurel’s vineyards are in their second year of biodynamic farming, for those who consider that an issue.

STEPHEN TANZER’S
Domaine Saint-Damien
By Josh Raynolds
2007 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas Vieilles Vignes 90-93
Inky purple. Wild, pungent aromas of dark berries, olive, garrigue and smoky minerals. Dense dark berry flavors show medium body and a chewy texture, with dusty tannins adding grip. Serious stuff, finishing with excellent cut and focus.

2007 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas Les Souteyrades 91-94
Dark purple. Primary, brooding scents of blackberry skin, cassis, licorice root and cracked pepper. Very spicy on the palate, displaying sweet dark berry and kirsch flavors and firm tannic grip. The dark berry notes repeat on the impressively long finish of this young but highly promising wine.

2007 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas La Louisiane 92-95
Inky ruby. Exotically perfumed, hypnotic bouquet of red berries, incense, potpourri, smoked meat and minerals. Zesty and focused, with juicy raspberry and redcurrant flavors, a sexy overlay of candied flowers and good mineral cut. The floral note repeats on the admirably pure and long finish.

2006 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas Vieilles Vignes 90-91
(80% grenache and 20% mourvedre, from vines averaging over 50 years of age) Dark ruby. Ripe raspberry and blackcurrant aromas are complicated by smoked meat, licorice and dark chocolate. Fleshy and smooth, with deep dark berry preserve flavors and a subtle note of candied licorice. The lingering fruit is joined by a zesty cracked pepper quality.

2006 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas Les Souteyrades 91-92
(same blend as the Vieilles Vignes, from 60-year-old vines) Saturated ruby. Deep blackberry and cassis aromas are brightened by sexy floral and incense notes. Brighter raspberry and cherry on the palate, with sweet lavender pastille and mineral qualities adding more energy. The finish at once gently sweet and sharply focused, not to mention impressively long.

2006 Domaine Saint Damien Gigondas La Louisiane 91-92
(80% grenache, 15% mourvedre and 5% cinsault, from vines over 70 years of age) Inky ruby.Youthful, brooding aromas of blackcurrant, smoky minerals, licorice and printer’s ink. Red and dark berry flavors are braced by zesty minerals and given shape by fine-grained tannins, with a candied floral quality adding complexity. Bitter cherry skin gains strength on the finish, which is impressively focused and long. This deserves cellar time.

ROBERT PARKER
THE WINE ADVOCATE, Inc. (Oct, 2009)
« I was blown away by how the 2007 Gigondas cuvees, which I had rated very highly from barrel last year, had put on weight and texture, and had become essentially as compelling as Gigondas can be.Clearly SaintDamien’s young proprietor, Joel Saurel, has moved this estate alongside the appellation’s two superstars, Domaine Santa Duc and Chateau SaintCosme. The three cuvees of 2007 Gigondas are absolutely profound. I am not sure I haven’t underrated them as I had them on two separate occasions and the numerical scores listed are actually from the lower rated tasting. Come what may, these are unreal wines. For statisticians, these wines are aged 68 weeks in cement tanks before they are moved to old wood foudres for 12 months prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The renowned Philippe Cambie is the consultant. All three of these Gigondas cuvees are amazing wines. Kudos to Joel Saurel! »

2008 SAINT DAMIEN
Gigondas Vieilles Vignes
Rating : (89-91) - Drink : 2009 2017
The only Gigondas that Saurel made in 2008 is the 2008 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes. One of the finest wines I tasted in what is a very difficult year for the appellation, it offers delicious ripe black fruit, spring flower, and crushed rock characteristics as well as a surprisingly opulent, dense style with outstanding concentration, texture, and length. Consume it over the next 78 years.

2008 SAINT DAMIEN
Cotes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes
Rating : 90 - Drink : 2009 - 2013
The bottled 2008 Cotes du Rhone Vieilles Vignes comes from the vast ocean of vines on the Plan de Dieu. Made from 50 year old Grenache vines that are biodynamically farmed, this star of the vintage exhibits a dense purple color as well as loads of kirsch and black currant fruit intermixed with notions of pepper and smoke. Revealing amazing concentration for the vintage, it is a big time sleeper of the vintage that should drink well for 24 years.

2007 SAINT DAMIEN
Gigondas Vieilles Vignes
Rating : 95+ - Drink : 2009 2029
The 2007 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes, a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre from 40yearold vines, boasts a saturated ruby/purple color as well as an exquisite bouquet of incense, crushed rocks, charcoal, black raspberries, kirsch, and blackberries, an incredibly broad, savory mouthfeel, stunning density, and a finish that goes on for 40+ seconds. This remarkable offering is one of the most prodigious wines I have ever tasted from Gigondas.
It should drink well for two decades or more.

2007 SAINT DAMIEN
les Souteyrades
Rating : 97
Drink : The inky/purpletinged, multidimensional 2007
Gigondas Les Souteyrades may be even better. Composed of 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre cropped at 25 hectoliters per hectare, from 60 year old vines, it boasts a blueberry, blackberry, charcoal, licorice, truffle, scorched earth, and spring flowerscented perfume, phenomenal purity,and a long finish. This blockbuster Gigondas possesses extraordinary focus given the freshness and good acids provided by the vintage as well as incredibly wellintegrated tannins.

2007 SAINT DAMIEN
Gigondas la Louisiane
Rating : 95 - Drink : 2009 2029
The 2007 Gigondas Louisiane (80% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, and 5% Cinsault from 70 to 80 yea rold vines) merited 98 points at one tasting, but I’ll be conservative here. This amazing wine possesses a dense purple color as well as an extraordinary nose of a liqueur of rocks intermixed with cassis, kirsch, licorice, incense, and spring flowers. Made from incredibly low yields of 22 hectoliters per hectare (which no doubt explains the remarkable focus, concentration, richness, and 50 second finish), this historic Gigondas is a tour de force in winemaking. It should drink well for 20+ years.

2006 SAINT DAMIEN
Gigondas Vieilles Vignes
Rating: (90) - Drink : Over the next 7-8 years
The well made 2006 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes deep spring flowers, earth, and spice.

2006 SAINT DAMIEN
Gigondas les Souteyrades
Rating : (93) - Drink : 2008-2023
The 2006 Gigondas Les Souteyrades (also 80% Grenache and 20% Mourvedre) has outstanding potential. It’s a beautiful wine with a deep ruby color and a big, sweet bouquet of crushed rocks, white flowers, and blue and red fruits intermixed with some garrigue and spring flowers. Medium to full-bodied, with moderately high tannin, it clearly evidences the cooler climate character of this vintage in Gigondas. The wine should drink nicely for 12-15 years.This estate has been making some positive noises of late and merits following. Gigondas needs a wake-up call in general, as there are too few estates pushing the envelope, but St.-Damien offers plenty of hope and quality in their wines.

2006 SAINT DAMIEN Gigondas la Louisiane
Rating : (89-91) - Drink : 2008-2016
Soft, opulent, and sumptuous is the 2006 Gigondas Louisiane. The blend is 80% Grenache, 15% Mourvedre, and 5% Cinsault and Clairette from yields of 22 hectoliters per hectare. This wine’s sumptuous, seductive, fruit-driven style provides a complete contrast to the Vieilles Vignes and Les Souteyrades. It should be drunk over the next 7-8 years.This estate has been making some positive noises of late and merits following. Gigondas needs a wake-up call in general, as there are too few estates pushing the envelope, but St.-Damien offers plenty of hope and quality in their wines.

REVUE DES VINS DE FRANCE
MILLÉSIME 2007
VINS NOTÉS ENTRE 17,5 ET 15,5
Gigondas Vieilles Vignes
SAINT-DAMIEN
Une note de cerise à l’eau-de-vie détermine le nez de ce vin. La bouche est dense, structurée avec des tanins fermes mais élégants. Il garde une belle persistance minérale jusqu’en finale ce qui lui donne beaucoup de vivacité.
Revue des Vins de France

MILLÉSIME 2008
VINS NOTÉS ENTRE 17,5 ET 15,5
Gigondas Vieilles Vignes
SAINT-DAMIEN
On a le sentiment d’avoir un vin doux naturel au nez après cette sensation de maturité presque excessive. À l’inverse, l’équilibre se manifeste par une bouche, certes riche et grasse, mais très veloutée et tapissante.

WINES SPECTATOR 2008
SAINT-DAMIEN
Good Advice Goes a Long Way
Domaine St.-Damien is one of the Gigondas estates that draw fruit more from the vineyards on the plateau than from those on the chalky hillsides. The house style includes rich, black fruit character, with exotic smoke and black tea notes, derived from the richer clay and limestone soils on the plateau that spreads west and southwest from the Dentelles. Joël, 52, and his wife, Amie, 55, represent the fourth generation of Saurels (they are cousins of the Saurels at Montirius) to farm vineyards in Gigondas; previous generations sold the fruit to négociants. The domaine had an earlier incarnation. In 1978 Joël and his brother bottled their estate’s own production for the first time. But in 1987 the brothers split; Joël stayed at the domaine. Because he lacked vinification expertise (Joël had worked the vineyard while his brother made the wine), the estate’s grapes were sold once again to négociants until 1996, when Joël and Amie decided make a go of it on their own. There are now 42 acres of vines, nearly 30 in Gigondas. Almost one-third of the estate’s 4,500-case production comes to the United States.
The Saurels have been working with consultant Philippe Cambie since 1998—they were one of his first clients. «We were experienced with the vineyards,» says the forthright and proud Amie, « but not the vinification. We needed some help. » Cambie espouses a modern-minimalist approach, with late harvesting of ripe grapes aimed at producing rich, velvety wines.
The wines are destemmed 70 percent and fermented in cement vat. The 2006 Gigondas Vieilles Vignes is sourced from the estate’s « young » vines (they’re 50 years old) in the Souteyrades parcel, which features clay and limestone soils. It’s a touch sauvage, with inviting Kenya AA coffee, bittersweet cocoa, crushed plum fruit and an exotic, terroir-driven finish.
In 2000, Cambie and the Saurels began vinifying fruit from the domaine’s various terroirs separately, and thus were born the La Louisiane and Les Souteyrades cuvées to augment the Vieilles Vignes bottling. The 2006 Gigondas La Louisiane (80 percent Grenache, 15 percent Mourvèdre and 5 percent Cinsault and Clairette) comes from the estate’s oldest vines, 65 to 80 years old, planted on stony alluvial soils. It’s plush and inviting, with a creamy texture, black fruits and a deep, earth-driven finish. The 2006 Gigondas Les Souteyrades is a blend of 80percent Grenache with 20 percent Mourvèdre sourced from 70-year-old vines in the parcel of the same name; it is really dark and muscular, with a beefy backdrop to the ganache and fig flavors. Amie and Joël exude country hospitality (Cambie can’t stop talking about her cooking), and they share an obvious love of their vineyards. With the assistance of the dynamic Cambie, those vineyards are now creating some of the appellation’s more distinctive and ageworthy wines. Wine Spectator magazine, October 15, 2008 issue.