Driving towards Vaison-la-Romaine, just northeast of Rasteau lies the village of Roaix, Côtes du Rhône Villages since 1967. Situated at an altitude between 150 and 350 meters above sea level, the vineyards of this community are spread out on two quite different terroirs. While the lowest part takes its power from alluvial, quaternary terraces (a rather common soil type of the southern Rhone valley), the vines growing at the piedmont and the slopes of the Montagne de Ventabren root in rocky sand soils (locally called Safres) and, higher up in red clay. Exposed to the hot Mediterranean climate and the northern Mistral wind, the genuine secret of the vineyards of Roaix is to be found in the northeastern exposition of the Montage de Ventabren. It confers surprising acidity and fine tannins to grapes and wines, which will be specially appreciated in hot vintages.

We recently acknowledged this in our cellar during a vertical tasting of our Santa Duc Roaix “Les Crottes”, especially on the wines from so-called Mediterranean vintages. 2010 crispy and fruity, 2009 mild and spicy, 2008 delicate and flowery, 2007 ripe, full and straight, 2006 powerful and long…

Wines and vintages that are still available – a secret to be shared with friends and clients…

Text and pictures by Aaron Nix-Gomez on HogsHeadWine

Domaine Santa Duc produces many wines that I enjoy. This wine is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah sourced from les Aubes and la Ponche in Vacqueyras. The les Aubes parcel has sandy slopes. The le Ponche parcel has lime-chalk soils. It was aged for 18 months in casks on lees.

I have twice bought this wine for $24 from MacArthur’s. If you like full-bore Vacqueyras then this bottle is for you. It is well made and certainly worth the price. It is an attractive drink right now because it is vigorously youthful and the ripe tannins are not bothersome. It certainly has the stuffing to age for the short to medium term, it just depends on how you like your wine.

2007 Domaine Santa Duc, Les Aubes, Vacqueyras
This wine has a light to medium nose of rich, spiced fruit. In the mouth it immediately delivers heady blue fruits, creamy flavors, grit, and spices. There are ripe tannins that coat mouth as spicey midpalate develops. The profile of the wine is sensitive to heat so be careful to drink it at cellar temperature.

Jenn noted, “Completely full mouth experience. A storybook wine.” ***(*) Now-2022.

After 14 months of ripening in tanks and barrels, all the wines from Domaine Santa Duc have been bottled between the 16^th and 20^th of April (with a lunar position favourable to fruit) and are now available in France and abroad: Our prestige wines Hautes Garrigues, Tradition and Grand Grenache from Gigondas, but also our dinner and pleasure wines, that take care of your daily well-being – Les Quatre Terres, Les Vieilles Vignes, Les Plans, as well as the white Les Fournas from Sablet, vintage 2011.

What really outlines the 2010 vintage, is the intensity of its aromas, as well as the almost perfect balance between fullness and freshness, giving elegant wines you may appreciate when they are young. Nevertheless, you should thoroughly “forget” some bottles in your cellar to let them ripen for years.

“This is a great vintage that comes close in quality to 2007 in the southern Rhône. Some producers think 2010 eclipses 2007 because of the wines’ vivid freshness and focus. […] In fact, 2010′s paradox is that I can’t remember a vintage so concentrated, powerful and rich that also has such zesty acidity…” (R Parker Wine Advocate)

If you happen to be at the Plaza Hollywood, Kowloon, Hong Kong these days to do some shopping, you might drop into the lingerie department to purchase... some Santa Duc Vin de Pays from the Rhône Valley. I must say that I am quite familiar now with all sorts of wine & something combinations like chocolate & wine, cheese & wine, music & wine, art & wine. But French lingerie & wine…? That’s new to me, but I guess I appreciate the alliance.

In any way, I will have a drink on all those, who especially dress up to have a glass of Santa Duc wine!

Just last week, when I spontaneously passed by Domaine Santa Duc in Gigondas, Yves Gras proposed to taste some bottles from the new 2010 vintage, just bottled last week. Generally it is told that it’s difficult to taste wines shortly after bottling, but as I always mistrust those “tales” I tasted anyhow. For, even if most of the wines are a little “rebellious” after having changed their recipient (for the wine there definitely is less space in a bottle than in a tank!), you still may taste if the wines are ”set-up” well or not.

And indeed I can tell you that they are wholly set-up! I have been impressed by the 2010 vintage from the very beginning, as it easily combines power and freshness, tannins and softness.

Les 4 Terres: Cheerful and fresh like a Cotes du Rhône should be.
Gigondas Tradition showes density and balance.
Gigondas Les Hautes Garrigues: Full of black fruit, candied lemon peels and fine tannins.
Gigondas Grand Grenache 66: A bouquet of raisin, chocolate, prunes and power.

Mostly enticing to me was the drinkability of all the wines and they made me salivate (by the way a sign for very good acidity).

Some words apart on the latest release from Domaine Santa Duc, the Chateauneuf du Pape Habemus Papam. Surely different from the Gigondas wines, this wine truly expresses Chateauneuf-du-Pape-terroir and honours the appellation: Mellowness and volume from a real Grenache, together with graceful tannins of good length.

Not really a fan of early vintage reports and classifications, I still would like to tell you some words about the grape quality of this year’s harvest at Domaine Santa Duc. Regarding bud-burst and flowering, one could say that 2011 was a precocious vintage. And though cool temperatures and sporadic rainfalls in July somehow dampened the enthusiasm of the vines, the following heat of August still predicted an early grape ripening. But experience tells, that one should be patient with “headstrong” grape varieties like Grenache, which never unfold their whole potential when they are rushed. So we decided to wait for them…

Harvest started on September 14^th, followed by 16 days of hand picking and sorting. All fermentations were done with natural yeasts and we waived destemming on our ripest grapes. Due to this game of patience, the considerable gain of grape quality enabled us to go for long term macerations – up to four weeks – alongside with delicate extraction, to build up a solid but soft tannin structure.

Today, the young wines are plenty of fruit and spices, but also show depth and continuity. Many reasons to start ageing of the wines in a quit manner.