Long known as one of the Northern Rhone’s top producers, Pierre Gaillard, and his family, have been cranking out rich and lovely wines for decades. In that time they have established themselves as a sure-fire, go to choice, for consumers, on restaurant lists and on the shelves of shopkeepers the world over.
Over time the family has expanded their holdings, being one of the first Rhone producers to venture into the Roussillion, when they expanded South and acquired Domaine Madeloc in Banyuls. There, the well chosen and perfectly aged terraced hillside vineyards, along with those in neighboring Collioure, are seen as some of the most treasured in the region.
While Banyuls grapes produce the delicious open top late harvest sweet grenache reds, it’s the vineyards in the Collioure AOC, overseen by Pierre’s daughter Elise Gaillard, that makes one of the most magical reds from the Roussillon, the 2016 Gaillard Collioure Rouge.
Made from a blend of Grenache Noir, Mourvèdre and Syrah, the velvety red wine is full of both full throttle power and elegant silky fruit. Much like the wines of La Tour Vieille Spicy black and white pepper from the Mourvedre and Syrah and ripe strawberry, blackberry and blueberry from the trio of grapes are a given.
But it’s the elegant delivery and structure of the well-balanced 2016 Pierre Gaillard Collioure Rouge that makes this wine a perfect pairing with creamy blue cheese or aromatic Epoisses that makes it such a delight. That and how well it pairs with baby lamb or perfectly cooked duck breast. While the wine is made mostly in large vats, the finishing takes place in large oak barrels, allowing the wine to have just enough oak tannins to go from being a fruit bomb to becoming a well developed and age-worthy wine.
That’s why the 2016 Pierre Gaillard Collioure Rouge is today’s Winesiders’ Wine of The Day.
