Walls’ hidden gems: Moulin de la Gardette, Gigondas

Château Rayas, Gourt de Mautens, Cros de la Mûre and Moulin de la Gardette. What do these estates all have in common?

Sure, they’re all among the very best in their respective appellations, but there’s something else, something rather more peculiar.

They all wait for it to rain before picking their grapes.

Most winemakers prefer a little more control when deciding on picking dates. They carefully measure ripeness and sugar levels, rather than leaving it to the will of the gods. And rain brings with it the risk of dilution and mould.

So why do they do it? It seems they all have slightly different reasons, but according to Jean-Baptiste Meunier of Domaine Moulin de la Gardette in Gigondas, there are several benefits.

Scroll down to see Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for eight Moulin de la Gardette wines

Why wait for the rains to come?

He finds that it brings drinkability to the finished wines and gives them rounder tannins. Admittedly to begin with he was concerned that it might reduce acidity due to dilution, but in his experience this has not been the case.

He does gain a little extra volume, but if anything the wines are fresher for it. And so far, his grapes are robust enough to fight off any serious rot.

For some, a major benefit of picking after it rains is cleanliness: it washes the grapes clean before picking and pressing. Meunier wondered if it might also wash away the natural yeasts present on the grape skins. Yet his ferments still start successfully without the need to add any cultured yeasts.

With organic viticulture, very light filtration and very low sulphite additions, his wines are ‘not natural’, he says, ‘but close to natural’.

Whether a wine is natural or not is, to me at least, secondary to whether or not it is delicious. And Meunier’s wines are certainly that. They are also fresh, detailed, balanced and highly drinkable.

It’s surprising that his wines aren’t better known. They are beautiful expressions of Gigondas that are among the most brilliant wines of the Southern Rhône.

Jean-Baptiste Meunier’s winemaking background

After a stint at Diamond Creek in Napa Valley, California, Meunier returned to the family estate in 1988. He helped his parents to make the wines until 1993, after which point he took over the reins.

He’s not quite sure how far back his winemaking roots go, but he’s at least the fifth generation to be making wines here at Moulin de la Gardette.

With just 10ha of vines, Meunier is keen to continue making exclusively Gigondas. ‘It’s on a human scale, and it’s enough,’ he says.

Indeed, Gigondas is all he makes; three red cuvées and a little rosé. (Rosé is permitted in Gigondas, but overall production is miniscule).

He has a few old Clairette vines dotted around, so if and when white Gigondas is permitted by the appellation authorities (which could be soon), he might make some of that too.

His 25 parcels of vines are dispersed around the appellation. Most are planted just to the south of the village in the adjacent lieux-dits of La Gardette, Les Bosquets, Saint-Jean and Jasio, sitting at around 300m altitude.

La Gardette is mostly clay limestone with small pebbles, but otherwise he describes the soils here as a mosaic, with varied patches of clay, sand and pudding stone.

Details of the wines in the range

To describe the Petite Gardette cuvée as ‘entry-level’ doesn’t really do it justice, though it is quite different from his Tradition and Ventabren bottlings. It’s made from younger vines between nine and 23 years old, and is fermented and aged for 10 months in concrete. It’s certainly the most immediate and fruity style of the three.

Where the Petite Gardette is almost entirely destemmed, the Tradition and Ventabren cuvées are whole bunch-fermented.

During the 2000s Meunier experimented with using destemming for his wines, and although it made them more accessible, he’s discovered that it has reduced their ability to age.

‘It was an error for us,’ he concedes, which he’s since corrected. Outside of this trial period his wines age reliably for 20 years, sometimes much longer.

The Tradition bottling is from older vines, around 50 to 60 years old. And although Ventabren isn’t a single vineyard wine, it’s drawn from the same, 90-year-old vines every year. These are the oldest vines in the estate, mostly from lieux-dits Jasio, L’Argnée, La Gardette and Les Terres.

The blends are a little different; both Tradition and Ventabren contain mostly Grenache and 10% Cinsault, but the former has 20% Mourvèdre in the blend, whereas the latter instead has 10% Syrah.

Tradition and Ventabren are now both aged exclusively in foudres and demi-muids. They’re largely old barrels, but when he needs to replace one, he buys it new in order to ensure his barrels are home only to yeasts and bacteria that are native to his cellar.

Patience is a virtue

For the last three vintages, he’s worked with one of his children alongside him.

‘It’s an immense pleasure to make wine with my daughter,’ he says, but for now she’s off travelling again; she’s 23 and still has itchy feet.

‘Perhaps she’ll come back,’ he hopes. But Jean-Baptiste doesn’t mind waiting. The rain has taught him that.

See Matt Walls’ tasting notes and scores for eight Moulin de la Gardette wines

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