2019 Chateau de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion Cotes du Rhone 750 ml

Few names are as closely associated with the Rhône Valley as Louis Barruol’s Château de Saint Cosme. The estate dates back to 1416, and Robert Parker classifies the Saint Cosme bottles as “some of the finest wines in the southern Rhône as well as France.” He’s best known to collectors for his 100-points Gigondas but, as Parker noted, “consumers should not overlook the terrific value offered by his Côtes du Rhônes.”  

The 2019 Château de Saint Cosme Les Deux Albion Côtes du Rhône is a marriage of the two, packing the ripe red fruit and wild, herby complexity of Barruol’s top-end wines at a bargain price. In fact, James Suckling put last year’s Deux Albion on a list of under-$30 wines that drink like Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

With Saint Cosme, it pays to be schooled on the label. Only the wines that come from Barruol’s estate  vineyards—all of their bar-setting Gigondas, as well as the Les Deux Albion wines—bear the full “Château de Saint Cosme” name on the label. 

This consists of estate-grown Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre, and Clairette from the communes of Plan de Dieu, Saint Maurice, and Cairanne. The grapes are biodynamically farmed and whole-cluster co-fermented. After aging in a combination of wooden vats and concrete, the wine is bottled unfiltered to showcase its gorgeous color and full range of aromatics.

Our Master Sommelier, Sur Lucero, expanded on Barruol’s methods: “Co-fermentation requires very healthy grapes and farming, and this estate has been biodynamic since 2010. The fermentation process, with all its magic and mystery, is the ultimate blender to unify the characteristics of several grapes into one entity, one wine, one textural experience that is both seamless and intense at the same time.”