The Movement · Bordeaux red

Gigue2020

Still maturing in our cellar — released only in its drinking phase.

Ageing in bottle

Arriving

Like an early evening beneath old olive trees.

Powerful and rich in tannin, kept in motion by lively fruit.

Quick, full of verve and with strength in every step – that is how a gigue sounds, and how this wine tastes.

Five of the six months between December and May ran about two degrees above average; the vines broke bud as early as mid-March, and flowering succeeded in the second half of May between two spells of rain. Then it turned dry: 54 days without appreciable rain between 18 June and 11 August, and another twenty after that. The red harvest began in mid-September with daytime temperatures in the low thirties — small berries, little juice, dense colour. What mattered most in this year was how well a soil could hold water.

Grape varieties: 90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Analysis: 14.0 % volContains sulfites · not vegan
Drinking window: 2027 – 2039
Serving temperature: 15–16 °C
Decanting: aerate 30–60 min

Evening beneath the olive trees

Gigue 2020, Bordeaux Rotwein – Flasche und Glas auf dem Steintisch unter Olivenbäumen, mit Entenkeule und Oliven

Gigue 2020, Bordeaux Rotwein – Flasche auf dem gedeckten Tisch über den Oliventerrassen, mit geschmortem Geflügel und Oliven

The first glass

The flavour profile of Gigue 2020

Gigue smells of juicy cherry and violet, with a hint of white pepper. Gigue 2020 matured in concrete vats, with only a small share in barrique, which keeps the fruit clear. On the palate it is powerful and rich in tannin, almost heavy, and yet it stays nimble because the fruit carries it. A red for the table, at 15–16 °C.

Why Gigue

A quick dance with weight.

A suite is a sequence of dances. Each has its own character, and only all together do they make the whole. That is how our estate is built: each cuvée is inspired by a movement of this suite and takes on the character of its form.The gigue is the quick, lively dance of the suite. In the classical suite it comes last; with us, it opens the reds. That is why this wine has power and tannin, and why its fruit sets it in motion. Dancing rather than marching, for Gigue, means energy despite weight.

Gigue is energy with weight: powerful, rich in tannin and kept in motion by its fruit.

Robert Schumann — Gigue, Op. 32

Maturity — how it drinks today

Still maturing in the cellar

Expected to be ready to drink: around 2028

Optimal drinking window of Gigue 2020

2027 – 2039

Serving temperature 15–16 °C.

Our principles

Why we take the trouble

Ageing in our own cellar

Most of our wines go on sale only once they are ready to drink; until then they mature with us, and we carry the risk.

Composed plot by plot

Each plot is vinified separately; only at the end do we compose the cuvée from them.

Time as an ingredient

Depth takes time. We give the wines the years in barrel and bottle that they need.

Organic & HVE4

The Domaine's vineyards are certified organic and HVE4, set within a 19-hectare ecosystem of woodland, meadows, water and vines.

Gigue, Bordeaux Rotwein – Rebzeilen von LaSuite aux Conseillans

Die Parcelle 13 als Beispiel für das Terroir des Château LaSuite aux Conseillans in Bordeaux

The terroir and the wine it yields

Where it comes from

The Gigue draws on three plots and three soils. On the clay of plot C7 the Merlot takes root, carrying the fruit; the gravel of plot C13 — up to four fifths stone at depth — gives warmth, drainage and energy; and the clay-gravel of plot C12 brings the tension with Cabernet Sauvignon. This is how the Gigue stays juicy and supple while having a foundation that holds the fruit.

Which plots go into the blend is decided by the vintage; the assignment can therefore vary slightly from harvest to harvest.

Watercolour map of LaSuite aux Conseillans with the 16 numbered parcels, coloured by the four terroirs: clay, clay-gravel, gravel and sand — The 16 parcels of the Domaine, about five hectares of vines. The colours show our four terroirs.

The blend of Gigue 2020

2 Grape varieties

90%Merlot
10%Cabernet Sauvignon

Each plot is vinified separately; only at the end does the cuvée come together. More about our terroirs.

Precision & method

In the tradition of modern oenology

Aux Conseillans was for decades the Domaine of Jean Ribéreau-Gayon — one of the co-founders of modern oenology, founder of the Institute of Oenology at the University of Bordeaux (1949) and long-time owner of the estate. We work in that tradition: each plot analysed and vinified separately, the ageing guided under control, drinking maturity checked in a blind tasting.

The legacy of the oenologists

When the embers settle

Into a large glass at 15–16 °C, and a little time: that is how Gigue opens up to cherry, violet and white pepper.

Your evening

A wine for the table.

Dishes to pair

A selection from our recipe kitchen, matched to the structure and maturity of this wine.

Bistecca alla fiorentina – T-bone from the fire

Bœuf Bordelais – slow braised with gigue

Brasato di Silvio al Gigue – beef pot roast

Bucatini all'amatriciana

Carne de porco à alentejana, pork & clams

Confit de canard – beluga lentils & shallots

Grilled veal chop, sauce tonnata & capers

Foie de veau lyonnaise, sweet sherry glaze

All recipes

The mood to match the wine

A playlist for the moment

If you are a friend of classical music, here is a playlist that may suit your evening and the character of this wine. One possibility among many; listen in, if you like.

Sound of Gigue · Listen on Spotify

Ageing in bottle

Not yet ready to drink