Wineshark Wine Tasting - Domaine Burle

I visited the estate back in 2018. Still remembering the day it took a while to find the estate, particularly in the midst of a heavy downpour. But finally we arrived, with greeted by Damien Burle, one of the two brothers who is now managing the estate.

Germain was the first Burle to cultivate vines in the 1930s. His son Rene succeeded him 20 years later before handing over to his son Edmond in 1965, who gave new impetus to the estate. Edmond had an ambition and convinced of holding a qualitative terroir at his feet, building a new cellar at Hameau de la Beaumette, a stone's throw from the village of Gigondas, and began to bottle his wine in 1968.

Dying at an early age of 66, he left his two sons to continue his journey. Starting at an early age, Florent now takes care of the vineyard while Damien manages the cellar, the administrative and the commercial. In 2016, the Burle estate produced 40,000 bottles under the Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Cotes-du-Rhone and VDP appellations and exported 75% of its production, mainly to the US and Japan.

The vine is grown the traditional way, and after the winter, Florent would turn the soil deeply to aerate it, during the first days of spring. In the cellar, the wine is vinified and aged in concrete tanks, with daily pumping over.

We sampled the full range of their wines, and I was impressed by the intensity and quality of them. Seeing the prices I was amazed how great value they were, and decided to bring a bottle home as a memoir for this wonderful visit.

The Les Fouilles has 50% Grenache and 50% Syrah, with the average vine age of 40 years. The vineyards are managed using traditional approach with organic fertilizers. The vinification process is done in concrete vat for 21 days and then left in concrete and stainless steel vats for 12 months. With average production of 4,000 bottles.

Opening the 2015 Gigondas Les Fouilles two years after the visit, the wine still showed the great ripe black fruit aromas of blackberry and dark cherries, with also a nice mix of redcurrant, strawberry and plum. There is a nice earthy undertone, with some sweet and pungent spice coming from the Syrah in the blend. On the palate the wine is powerful yet in good balance, with robust structure and showing good concentration of flavors, as well as a decent length on the finish.