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.

Septembre 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.

Octobre 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, Octobre 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, Janvier 2023