Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Chave's 2014 St Joseph offers classic graniteinduced minerality as well as ample pepper, bouquet garni, violets and gaminess. It will certainly be an outstanding wine and reader's looking for a small taste of the Chave style are well advised to seek this cuvee out. The top barrel sample I was able to taste was from his Bachasson vineyard located to the north of SaintJean-de-Muzols, on a south-facing, granite hillside. This beauty will give a top Côte Rôtie a run for its money, and I expect it will be one of the first (and hopefully many) single vineyard releases from this estate.
Range:91-94 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 St Joseph Domaine is a wine readers should buy by the case. It’s not going to be the longest-lived St Joseph out there, but it’s absolutely loaded with character. I was able to drink a bottle of this over lunch and it’s one of those bottles that’s always the first to be emptied. Ripe, polished and sexy, with medium-bodied richness, it has perfumed notes of dark fruits, graphite, crushed flowers and spice in an ethereally textured, seamless package. Drink bottles through 2024.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Spanning the longest stretch of river in the northern Rhône—from Condrieu in the north, to Cornas in the south—the heart of St.-Joseph lies directly across the Rhône River from Hermitage. While its soils are basically the same as Hermitage: granite, supplemented by sand and gravel, its east facing slope receives less sunlight than Hermitage, which causes less overall berry ripening on its Syrah vines. However, some of the best of them can rival any fine expression of Hermitage, Cote-Rotie or Cornas with concentrated black fruits, dark spices, crushed rock and violets. A general advantage of the region is that its Syrahs typically don’t need as much time in the bottle compared to a Cote-Rotie or Hermitage and are much easier on the bank account!
A textbook St.-Joseph red is firm with a core of minerality that is enhanced by savory and peppery qualities. Aromas and flavors of smoke, olives, herbs, and violets are common; its wines are dense in red and black fruit.
St.-Joseph is also a source of fine northern Rhône white wine. Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne grow well here and can be blended or made into single varietal wines. St.-Joseph whites are full and silky with citrus, pear and pineapple flavors and a rich bouquet reminiscent of honeysuckle, toasted nuts, spice and caramel.