Manufacturer: Chateau de Saint Cosme

In the heart of the appellation Gigondas, the Château de Saint Cosme is an exceptional 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 our family since 1490 and we have been vignerons for 14 generations. We have 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 us an extraordinary diversity of soils. Our microclimate is cool and late ripening. Our Gigondas have the ability to be powerful and refined at the same time. The Saint Cosme’s Chapel, located in the heart of our vineyard is a pure example of roman art. It was built at the XI and XII century. Purity, balance and beauty: the Chapel is a witness of the medieval times and it gives an intense and special atmosphere to our vineyard. Everyone should take five minutes to climb the little hill and visit it. Our dedication to Saint Cosme is total. We want to express at their best the extraordinary potential of the terroirs combinated with the old vines. The ancient know-how, the organic viticulture and the understanding of the terroirs are part of our strong ideas. It was with the "savoir-faire" of a vigneron we created in 1997 a negociant activity that one could call a "Negociant-Vigneron". During my various travels and tastings in the Rhône Valley, I often thought that many great terroirs were under-exploited. I really liked some locations and I wanted to try. My wish was to become a negociant which would work with the spirit of a vigneron using ancient methods. This was meaning: being and remaining a small producer, be followed by winemakers having the same ambition, transport my wines in casks to avoid to rack them and kill their fruit, trying to do only nice things every day. At Saint Cosme we usually work “à la main”. I want to make wines which express their terroir with purity and personality. I want to make balanced wines with a great ability to age.