2011 Cote Nicault
The Côté Nicault Rhône blend of equal parts Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre reflects winemaker Gilles Nicault's Rhône Valley heritage, bringing together his viticulture and winemaking training in the Old World with years of winemaking in the Columbia Valley.
Despite a cooler than average spring and summer, the 2011 Washington vintage produced intense wines with wonderful texture. Moderate spring and summer conditions finally warmed in late August, with temperatures climbing into the upper 80s to low 90s, allowing the grapes to gain color and sugar. September and October days were warm and cloudless to bring the grapes to full physiological maturity. Cool fall evenings offset the warm days to preserve the grapes’ acidity and ripe tannins, resulting in wine with great structure and backbone.
Hand-picked grapes were brought to the winery in small bins where they underwent a distinct cellar protocol designed to complement the variety. Mourvèdre was aged in a French concrete egg to enhance the wine’s spiciness and preserve its backbone. Grenache underwent 30% whole-cluster native yeast fermentation to develop its delicate, perfume scented aromas and add another dimension to the finished wine before aging in once used Burgundian French oak barrels. Syrah was placed in small fermenters to achieve a high skin-to-juice ratio for added concentration, then aged in a 500L French oak barrel to capture the grapes’ dark, savory character without undo oak influence. After 18 months of aging, the final blend was assembled and the wine was bottled.
From the time Gilles arrived in the Columbia Valley from France, he's dreamed of crafting a wine that reflects his Rhône heritage and upbringing. Thanks to the gravely soils and steep slopes of StoneTree Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope, he discovered a site that is perfectly suited to produce such a wine. The 2011 Côté Nicault is an intense, dark wine offering ripe plum, fresh fig and crushed white pepper aromas and flavors. These flavors are interwoven with a vibrant mouthfeel held together by a racy texture that takes on added dimension and appeal across a bright, brambly finish.
93 POINTS - WINE ADVOCATE
2011 CÔTÉ NICAULT - 93 POINTS
"A true GSM blend that's made form equal parts Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, the 2011 Côté Nicault offers up beautiful blackberry and cassis-style fruit, ground pepper, wild herbs and hints of licorice to go with a medium to full-bodied, seamless, elegant and beautifully pure profile on the palate. Showing the more forward, supple nature of the vintage, it has solid mid-palate depth, fabulous overall freshness and terrific finish. Already approachable, it will evolve nicely over the coming 5 - 8 years."
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The 2011 Côté Nicault was grown at Stone Tree Vineyard on the Wahluke Slope. With its steep slopes and gravelly soils, the site is remarkable suited to Rhône varieties, expressing a distinct terroir found in the wine's rich, fruit-forward New World character and Old World complexity. Vines struggle here, producing grapes with wonderful concentration and flavor. Working alongside his long-time friend and colleague, vineyard owner Tedd Wildman, Gilles truly crafts his wine in the vineyard, making adjustments in the vines throughout the season and paying particular attention to canopy balance in order to achieve concentrated flavors and full physiological maturity.
Gilles Nicault has served as director of winemaking and viticulture since Long Shadows inception in 2003. As resident winemaker overseeing daily operations at Long Shadows' state-of-the-art winery in Walla Walla, Gilles works with a group of celebrated vintners from around the globe. It is his job to ensure that each winemaker's vision is realized in the vineyard and the cellar.
While many winemakers would find this proposition a daunting task, French-born Nicault describes the position as his "dream job." Those who know Gilles best say it is his insatiable curiosity and desire to learn something new every day as well as his winemaking skills that make him uniquely qualified for the position. In addition to executing daily operations at the winery, Gilles is the winemaker for Long Shadows' acclaimed Chester-Kidder, a Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah blend that carries his signature.
Gilles grew up in southern France and graduated from the University of Avignon with a degree in Viticulture and Enology. He honed his craft in the fabled hillside vineyards and wineries of Cotes Du Rhone, Provence and Champagne. On 1994, already a vintner of rising fame in his homeland, Gilles traveled to Washington State to expand his winemaking skills.
Impressed by Washtington State's vineyards and the opportunity to be part of a growing wine community, he stayed in the Columbia Valley, working for Staton Hills and Hogue Cellars before joining Woodward Canyon in 1996, where he stayed until moving to Long Shadows in June 2003. Sharing Woodward Canyon's passion for world-class wine, Gilles soon found Woodward Canyon's founder Rick Small was his ideal mentor and biggest champion. In 1999, Woodward Canyon named Gilles head of enology and production.
Gilles is married to winemaker Marie-Eve Gilla of Forgeron Cellars, also an acclaimed winemaker. The couple wilves in Walla Walla with their two children.
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