DOMAINE SANTA DUC

Domaine Santa Duc was founded in Gigondas 1874 and is now led by 6th generation owner and winemaker, Benjamin Gras. After Benjamin received his diploma of oenology at the University of Bourgogne he spent time at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Bodega Vega-Sicilia learning from some of the wine world's most famous estates. The goal at Santa Duc has always been to produce top-quality fruit from impeccably tended vineyard sites, the style of winemaking has changed with each generation. Benjamin’s father, Yves Gras took over the estate from his father in 1985 and made an immediate impact. Not long after taking over, Robert Parker wrote: “Santa Duc combines the muscle, richness and fire of a classic Gigondas with a degree of elegance and purity that many wines of this appellation lack.” In 1994, Yves began buying abandoned vineyard sites in Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape and has painstakingly restoring them to life. The sites in Gigondas nestled in at the foot of the Dentelles are some of the most beautiful vineyards you could ever visit! Yves was always a man of vision, looking for vineyards with massale selection, employing Biodynamics and making wines with as little intervention as possible. Benjamin took over in 2017 which is the first vintage where the vineyards are certified Biodynamic. Benjamin and his father share many of the same philosophies and he is continuing the family legacy, producing beautiful, vibrant wines.

Reviews for this winery

Wine lovers whose experience with this estate's wines is based on those produced in the late 1980s and 1990s are in for a shock if they revisit Yves Gras's more recent work. While these are undoubtedly among the most powerful wines produced as Gigondas, the oak presence, weight and ripeness that marked many bottlings of the past have been dialed back quite a bit. Not so much that fans of the old style should freak out, but definitely to an extent that wine lovers who typically steer clear of brawny southern Rhônes will be pleasantly surprised.

September 2017

Gigondas-based Yves Gras has quietly grown his holdings in Châteauneuf du Pape to six hectares, from which he's producing four separate cuvées. I'm sure it will hurt some feelings to say an outsider like Gras is producing some of the most compelling examples of Châteauneuf du Pape, but keep in mind these are generally tiny-production gems and not easy to track down.

October 2017

The young yet obviously talented Benjamin Gras continues to make an elegant, beautifully balanced style of wine from this benchmark estate in Gigondas, which now also produces a handful of terrific Châteauneuf du Pape. He’s made the most of the 2018 vintage, and these are impressive wines.

Jeb Dunnuck, October 2020

Yves Gras deserves full credit for pushing Domaine Santa Duc, his family’s property, into the upper tier of Gigondas, and the Southern Rhône, starting in the mid-1980s. Gras' son, Benjamin, assumed control of the domaine’s 26 hectares of vines and winemaking in 2017, pushing quality even higher. Benjamin Gras arrived at the domaine following graduating from the University of Dijon and stages at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Vega Sicilia. The sixth generation to run the estate, Benjamin Gras is a restless experimenter in the cellar. Today, he makes ample use of Stockinger foudres and clay amphoras for all of his wines. In the case of the Gigondas bottlings, the result is wines of markedly greater finesse than those of his father, which could be bruisers and sometimes excessively oaked. This winery must be counted among the handful of great producers in Gigondas.

Josh Raynolds, January 2023