J.L Chave - Saint Joseph "Offerus" 2012

This wine tasted heavenly after a long day of home renovation and spring cleaning,
and went well with some cured meat and Robiola cheese...

J.L Chave - Saint Joseph "Offerus" 2012
13,5%
26€ Wine Searcher average price

The grapes are mainly coming from old Syrah vines in Mauves, the heart of Saint Joseph, and St Jean de Muzols. "Vin de Mauves" was actually the historical name of the whole wine region.

St-Jean-de-Muzols

St-Jean-de-Muzols

St-Jean-de-MuzolMauves. "Vin de Mauves" was actually the original name for Saint Joseph.

A "hun warrior" aromas of iron, blood, smoke, grilled meat with forest berries and damp earth.
Lively, yet quite silky and smooth on the palate. Ripe blueberries and plums with a good amount of gaminess. Also some peppery olive tapenade with Herbes de Provence. Decent tannins and acidity. Surprising sweetness in the finish, almost like a lingonberry jam. Nice length. 
Poised and elegant Northern Rhone Syrah. Good value (at least in Northern Rhone standards).
91

Chateau de Saint Cosme - Saint-Joseph 2011

We organized with friends the other day a "tongue-in-cheek" wine tasting, with a silly theme: red wines - Italy vs. French. After a long night and many heated debates (always surprises me how much emotions wine can provoke:) Italy won (by a small margin), but this particular wine was one of the wines of the tasting, and rightly so.

Saint-Joseph lived it`s heydays as early as in the 1400s, being the favorite wine region of Ludwig XII, the king of French, where he also owned a vineyard called "Clos de Tournon". The first officially recorded vineyard of the area dates back to 1668, with the name Saint-Joseph (after the eponymous saint), and was owned by the local Jesuits. Nowadays this, second largest AOC in the Northern Rhône right after Crozes-Hermitage, is kind of living it`s Renaissance, with increasing demand / popularity, and many high profile producers starting to get serious with it. There has been lately even a talk and suggestions of a possible new appellation (1er Cru Saint-Joseph). This is apparently propagated by J.L Chave and many other winemakers, in hopes of lifting the quality and prestige of the area.

Chateau de Saint Cosme - Saint-Joseph
2011
13,5%
28€ Wine-Searcher average price


This Saint-Joseph by Chateau de Saint Cosme is made with 100% Sérine, an ancient clone of Syrah grape, originating from the Northern Rhône (some people think it´s a grape of it`s own, rather than a clone). Some also claim that Sérine has actually more complexity, and more pronounced "Northern Rhône Syrah typicity" of smoke, pepper, olives, bacon fat etc. than a regular Syrah (Oh, the unfathomable abysses of wine nerdom..). Well, this wine is certainly not debunking the claim, though it isn`t proving it either. Wine is aged in 20% new oak – 40% in one year old barrels – 40% in two years old barrels.

Nice, quite transparent, ruby red color.
Not a super strong, but inviting nose of ripe strawberries, plums, smoke, a bit of oak(that faded away pretty fast), vanilla and black pepper.
On the palate wine feels very fresh, with strawberries, boysenberries, a bit af gaminess, and a good touch of pepper. Has also a strong smokey and savory character, which is highly delicious. Good acidity, and polished tannins. Alcohol is well hidden. Medium to long aftertaste of strawberries, smoke and a total white/black pepper galore, almost like a pepper bomb explosion.
Not an easy wine to understand maybe, even feels at first a bit introvert. But It`s a wine that grows on you slowly, and at the end you`re totally hooked, maybe like the Northern Rhône as a wine region in general.
Excellent and pure Northern Rhône Syrah(or Sérine) typicity. Elegant, and classical wine, which is not trying too hard. Though, I must say that this has all the elements of being even a much greater wine, and with just a little more umpf(better vintage? ageing?) it could be just that. Nevertheless an absolutely beautiful wine.
91-93

Famille Perrin - Vinsobres "Les Cornuds" 2012

I`m quite a bit into Rhône wines these days, specially Northern Rhône. It`s actually an area I`ve had an interest for years, at least "theoretically", yet somehow just manage to neglect it all the time. Go figure...
This wine is from Vinsobres, Southern Rhône, made by the Perrin family, better known for their Chateauneuf du Pape`s. Vinsobres is a tiny village which previously had a Côtes du Rhône village status, but in 2006 it was changed into it`s own AOC. Wines must be made from an equal mix of Grenache and Syrah(or Mouvedre). It`s vineyards are considered to be the most northern in the Southern Rhône area.

Famille Perrin - Vinsobres "Les Cornuds"
2012
14,5%
11€ Wine-Searcher average price

This is lovely!
Has a subtle but elegant nose of ripe dark berries, white pepper, hint of oak, but not too much. On the palate this is surprisingly fresh and lively; with strawberries, fresh blueberries, hint of woodsy stuff and spices. Vinsobres is in the border of S- Rhône and N- Rhône, in a quite high elevation, and this is showing definitely here; Northern Rhône freshness meets Southern Rhône lushness. Strong mouthfeel, good acidity, and also quite big tannins, which indicates that this will age at least a good 5-10 years. Delicious aftertaste with earthy notes, pepper and strawberries. 14,5% Alc. is very well integrated.
For the price, pretty damn delicious Rhône wine.
89-90

Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2012

For me Syrah grapes most interesting and profound expression is to be found in the wines from the Northern Rhone valley. New World, please, don`t be offended, it`s just that my palate is borned and raised in Europe, so it does have sometimes difficulties to understand wines from abroad, so to speak. But I`m all in for learning. So if you, dear reader, have some recommedation for a Syrah wine from the New World that isn`t  a totally and utterly showy, fruit bomb explosion, has some structure, earth, depth, complexity, and is not full of over-the-top ripe, jammy fruit, I`m all ears..

So, northern Rhone Syrah for me, at it`s best, is unpretentious, elegant, strucured and profound. It can be at the same time brutal and earthy, with all the peppery gaminess, and still full of silk and finess. An area I could see myself going fanatic about, to be honest. So many wines, so little time. Oh, well..

Alain Graillot
Crozes-Hermitage
2012
AOC
13,0%
 22€(25$) Wine-searcher average price

Quite nice, and purple color.
Really, really blackpeppery on the nose, classic Syrah of course. Also some toffee, blueberries, and a hint of oak. Quite soily and earthy..
Fresh on the palate, with bright strawberries, blueberries, surrounded with peppery and earthy notes. Lively acidity and some tannins. The amount freshness surprised me; combination of freshness, liveliness and meaty, earthy, peppery notes, really appeals to me. Nice finish and aftertaste with some minerality, strawberries and a bit of grassiness
with some bellpepper.  
Elegant and unpretentious wine. A textbook Northern Rhone Syrah, true to it`s "terroir".
90