Dom. Les Pallieres
Les Racines
Gigondas
2019

The producer

The modern history of Les Pallieres starts in 1998, when Daniel and Frederic Brunier, of Vieux Telegraphe fame, and their friend, and US importer, Kermit Lynch, acquired the estate. Vineyards and production facilities were entirely overhauled and renewed for a fresh start. Two Gigondas red wine cuvees were introduced, Les Racines, and Terrasse du Diable; Les Racines is produced from the estate’s oldest vines in the north of the appellation.

The wine

Fruit for Les Racines is sourced from a northwest facing hillside terrace, at 250 meters altitude, in the northernmost part of the Gigondas appellation. The vines are on average 70 years old. The blend comprises 80% Grenache, with 15% Syrah and Cinsault, and 5% Clairette. Fermentation takes place in concrete and wooden vats and lasts 25-30 days. Following, the wine is matured for 20 months in French oak foudres. A deeply red fruited, mineral, harmonious, and full-bodied red wine with high level of firm tannins, velvety fruit texture, and crisp juicy finish.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.