Château de Saint-Cosme, Gigondas (Rhône Valley, France) 2013

Obviously this wine isn’t going to undercut many wines from Châteauneuf du Pape on price (since it rings up for about $100), but it is an indisputably great wine and an object lesson in how good Gigondas can be.  Sweet scents with spicy accents get it of to a great aromatic start, and the palate more than follows through, showing sappy concentration and exceedingly deep flavors that are almost unfathomable.  Yet, despite a serious lashing of oak and very imposing power, the wine exhibits essentially perfect proportions and an open character that makes it almost irresistible already–even before it has been released in most overseas markets.  There’s lots of alcohol in this monster of a wine, but there’s so much fruit slathered over the wine’s other components that it doesn’t seem hot or harsh at all.  Sensational stuff.