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By far the most interesting of several 2008 vintage releases of Domaine
Cassagnoles that I tasted, Gilles Baumann's 2008 Cotes de Gascogne Gros
Manseng smells of peach and narcissus, with musk melon and lemon
joining in on an oily-textured palate, and with an engagingly juicy
finish in no way compromised by the roughly 20% of this wine that was
fermented in new barriques. The 1,000 cases of this wine destined for
the U.S. can serve as an excellent introduction to the rather
mysterious, musky character of a grape best known from nearby Jurancon. Gilles Baumann's Domaine Cassagnoles was not among the many Gascogne whites competing when that category was hot back in the mid-to-late 1980s, but over the past decade, his have proven to be some of the most consistently ripe and satisfying - as well as least expensive - of their genre. - WA 87 points
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