I never turn down a Grands Bois' allocation. This all-star Cotes du Rhone producer makes rich, ripe, and soulful reds that always drink way above their humble price points.
Case in point is their 2020 Philippine Cotes du Rhone, named after proprietor Marc Besnardeau's daughter. From a fantastic Southern Rhone vintage, this 60/40 blend of Grenache and Syrah smells and tastes more like Chateauneuf or Gigondas than value-priced Cotes du Rhone.
2020 Domaine les Grands Bois 'Philippine' Cotes du Rhone
94 points Yours Truly, 91 points Jeb Dunnuck
I've been drinking the hearty, soulful, and biodynamic wines of Les Grands Bois for 25+ years. Located in Sainte-Cecile, near Gigondas and Rasteau, this certified organic and biodynamic estate is one of the best in the Southern Rhone. Despite that fact, their wines remain very fairly priced and accessible to all.
Proprietor Marc Besnardeau is originally from Paris, where he worked as a sommelier at one of the city's top restaurants for years. On a buying trip to the Rhone, love struck, and Marc met Mireille Farjon, whose family had owned and operated Grands Bois for over 100 years. The two married, and Marc made the complete change from city life to the life of a vigneron. The rest, as they say, is history.
His credentials as a sommelier and his fine palate set him up to make great wines of his own. Marc was always a fan of wines made from old, low yielding vines, as these were the ones that had that epic concentration paired with wonderful expression of terroir. At Les Grands Bois, Marc is able to produce exactly that type of wine.
Case in point is his 2020 Philippine Cotes du Rhone, a blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah from 50-75+ year-old, certified biodynamic vines. Coming from a great Southern Rhone vintage, this is fermented and aged in a mixture of stainless steel, cement, and French oak.
The finished wine is about as dark as a red wine can get, BUT you'll be surprised with the silky and fine-grained texture found here. Besnardeau is a master of tannin management, and he makes sure to harvest his grapes when both fruit ripeness AND tannin ripeness are optimal. That is abundantly obvious when you get this huge yet supple red wine into your glass.
You'll notice right away that this stuff is opaque.....like you can't see through it! The nose is stellar, with notes of ripe dark berries, cassis, violet, thyme, pepper, and lavender. Just as thrilling on the palate, it packs some seriously intense flavors, but despite being massively concentrated, it glides across the palate with silky tannins. While there's no need to delay drinking this one, I've had bottles with 7 to 8 years of age on them, and they've been incredible.
Marc always bottles his reds without fining or filtration, so don't be surprised to find some sediment towards the end of the bottle. Please don't freak out, as most wine veterans consider this to be a positive attribute, as filtering a wine strips it of some of its character.
