St. Joseph, Northern Rhône, Rhône, France
Clear blue and black fruit with earth and iron. Opens to typical violets. Moderate tannic grip. An approachable constraint.
Clear blue and black fruit with earth and iron. Opens to typical violets. Moderate tannic grip. An approachable constraint.
Dec 18th, 2017This is a terrific St.-Joseph that fills a nice niche in the world of syrah I don't encounter nearly as often as I'd like - it has all the earthy funk, cracked pepper, and dry-aged meatiness of a powerful Northern Rhone yet instead of the slick, dense fruit and/or ripping tannic muscle that ordinarily accompanies that, it's a buoyant middleweight with pure fruit firmly on the red-fruit side of the spectrum. It's almost like a friendlier version of a Levet Cote-Rotie - a lot of the savory elements that make those so interesting are here and the transparency and weight are similar, the fruit here is just rounder and cleaner. It's not a "needs food" wine - it's easy to sip and even has a surprising amount of glou glou for something with this kind of depth. A blend of young(ish) 25 year old vines and some serious 115 year old V.V.'s, which may be how it manages to pull off both sides of that personality at the same time.
This is a terrific St.-Joseph that fills a nice niche in the world of syrah I don't encounter nearly as often as I'd like - it has all the earthy funk, cracked pepper, and dry-aged meatiness of a powerful Northern Rhone yet instead of the slick, dense fruit and/or ripping tannic muscle that ordinarily accompanies that, it's a buoyant middleweight with pure fruit firmly on the red-fruit side of the spectrum. It's almost like a friendlier version of a Levet Cote-Rotie - a lot of the savory elements that make those so interesting are here and the transparency and weight are similar, the fruit here is just rounder and cleaner. It's not a "needs food" wine - it's easy to sip and even has a surprising amount of glou glou for something with this kind of depth. A blend of young(ish) 25 year old vines and some serious 115 year old V.V.'s, which may be how it manages to pull off both sides of that personality at the same time.
2 people found it helpfulJan 25th, 2016
Founder Sandhi Wines & Domaine de la Côte, Evening Lands Vineyards, Seven Springs & Maison l'Oree
Rajat had this 8 years ago
Rajat had this 8 years ago
Jun 18th, 2016
