A tiny slice of land located next to its more famous Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape neighbors, Plan de Dieu is a village-level Côtes du Rhône AOC located in the southern Rhône. Viticulture here is ancient, and can be traced on parchment over 650 years back to 1362!
This 2500-acre piece of pre-Middle Age history is home to a vast plain of rocky clay soils that force the roots to work extra hard to produce small yields of the classic Rhône trio: Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre. Lot 721 is a 70/25/5 blend of the three, sourced from one of the handful of old growers in the area. It lives up to the region’s reputation for concentrated, rich wines – a big and bold Rhône red that’s produced from low-yield vineyards, harvested at optimal maturity for ripeness and intensity. A killer deal at a fraction of what you’d pay for its pricey siblings next door.
Old world fruit with a new world styling – the nose leaps out of the glass, with ripe red berries and ruby grapefruit underscored by black olive. On the palate, the wine is both fruity and earthy in equal parts, making for an absolute crowd pleaser. The finish is dry here, folks – dry, dry, dry. A terrific appeal to global wine appetites without sacrificing the unique Côtes du Rhône terroir that will likely come to the forefront with some age.