With a history of wine making on the site spanning nearly 600 years, Chateau de St Cosme is one of the most significant estates in the Rhone, if not France and has been owned by the same family since the sixteenth century. Current owner and winemaker Louis Barruol, is, unbelievably, the 14th generation of his family to farm the estate and takes pride in doing the lion’s share of the work himself. It is worth noting at this point that Louis is the only Gigondas producer to have been awarded 100 Parker points for his wines. His knowledge of the diverse geology of the area and belief in its ability to transform the wines has led to the production of a range of single vineyard Gigondas from very old vines of up to 60 years in age. That the wines manage to attain that elusive combination of power and elegance is testament to his intuition as a winemaker (not to mention as a geologist). Louis also produces a collection of Northern Rhone negoce wines which bear the St Cosme label.