’.7 Le Gour’ is a new top cuvée from the small family estate, Gour de Chaulé—a project initiated by Stéphanie Fumoso’s son, Paul. For this special edition, he has been granted permission to use some of the estate’s oldest Grenache vines from three terraces with a poor, sandy-clay soil, planted more than 80 years ago. As in the estate’s other special cuvée, No.8, a drop of Mourvèdre (1%) has been added. Paul is confident, ambitious, and, fortunately, very skilled; this is refined Gigondas from the top shelf.
Gour de Chaulé produces authentic, “handcrafted” Gigondas with soul from ancient vines; wine made with respect for both the environment and the region’s traditions. For the past decade, Stéphanie Fumoso has led Gour de Chaulé, steering it toward minimal use of chemicals and sulfur in the wines, made possible by rigorously hand-sorting the grape clusters. In recent vintages, her son Paul has proven to be a worthy heir, gradually taking over production.
The winemaking process is minimalist, with a total of 5 weeks of maceration (30% whole clusters in the 2021 vintage), followed by 1½ years of aging in a fashionable 1,900-liter concrete egg and bottling without filtration, fining, or sulfur addition. The winemaking is thus identical to No.8, except for the size of the tank.
Though this is an ambitious, somewhat expensive wine, you can forget about potent, dark “monster wine”: Gigondas offers a vast stylistic range, where .7 Le Gour is an intense yet elegant, ethereal wine.
As this is a new cuvée, it’s hard to predict its aging potential, but if Cuvée Tradition serves as a guide, one can safely assume there’s no rush.
93 points Vinous
“Athletic and refined, this 2021 red has loads of energy underpinning its ripe fruit. This is such an alluring Grenache.”
vinous.com, Nicolas Greinacher, Aug 2023.
