Famille Quiot / Château du Trignon, Gigondas (Rhône Valley, France) 2010

A wonderful wine from a historically strong vintage, this shows full ripeness but also striking freshness for a wine now approaching five years of age.  This combination of characteristics is entirely in keeping with the profile of 2010, and the strong raw materials easily counterbalance a notable edge of spicy oak to offer a very well balanced finished product.  A pleasantly earthy edge lends additional interest to the dark fruit and spice notes, and all of the aromatic and flavor notes are express themselves in harmony.  Terrific now but destined for at least another five years of positive development.