September 2014

Pierre Gaillard
2012 Northern Rhône

“Pierre Gaillard makes exciting, delicious wines in all three appellations. His St Joseph, in both white and red, is better than more prestigious ACs from less devoted, less artistic producers. Both cuvées of Côte-Rôtie are excellent, with lush, concentrated fruit and real freshness.” Jacqueline Friedrich, The Wines of France



Pierre Gaillard has his many fingers in many (small) pies these days. His projects in Collioure, Banyuls and Faugères, not to mention his co-project in Seyssuel with François Villard and Yves Cuilleron, all seem to be going from strength to strength. Then there is the proliferation of cuvées from his northern Rhône holdings—a new micro bottling seems to pop up every year! If this was another grower, we might be concerned that they were spreading their talents to thin, bracing ourselves for a dip in quality of his/her core wines. In fact, quite the reverse has been true here; Gaillard’s eye has remained firmly on the ball and his emblematic wines, the Saint-Joseph etc., have only improved in quality. Actually, Gaillard is in the midst of converting his northern Rhône sites to organic and biodynamic viticulture. Not sure what they put in the water up in Malleval, but we’d like some all the same.  

2012 is a lovely vintage here, a step up in layered complexity and ripeness from the easy-drinking 2011s, although with the same sense of engaging elegance. In terms of his wines’ succulent, ripe, and silky personalities, you could say that normal service has resumed chez Gaillard.  Other than that, Gaillard’s ’12 (and a single 2013) whites don’t tell us anything we don’t already know: this is a grower who knows his way around the northern... learn more