I realize in some freak vintages like 2003 St Joe might last longer than expected, but are there any producers who are making a wine that can positively develop for 20 years?
Never really had any truly old ones so don’t know that much personally. Chewing through Remington Norman’s excellent book on the Rhone a little each night, but its pretty old, so suspect its assessments are dated.
I haven’t had Chave (domaine) St Joseph that old yet, but I’m going to find out. The 2003 and 2004 have been really good recently (from totally different vintages).
I’ve had maybe a dozen bottles of Chave estate SJ from the late seventies to the late eighties that were consumed between 2000 and 2007, courtesy of a late friend. Certainly they held up well, but clearly were less complex and somewhat rustic compared to Chave Hermitage. At least at the time, the Chave allure hadn’t pushed the price of their St. Joseph up that much, but times may have changed.
Mine haven’t quite reached 20 years yet but the 2001 Guigal Vigne de l’Hospice St Joseph I tried a couple of years ago was travelling very nicely. I have a couple more and guess that they might go the distance.
As do I! I shared a bottle of this with a co-worker back in the spring, and we were both thoroughly impressed. It evolved quite nicely too over the course of 2 hours. Really captured the beauty and purity of Syrah.
Before Gonon-mania had really taken hold Chambers did a couple of releases of 1989 Gonon St. Joseph, I think it was the les Oliviers bottling. IIRC the pricing was silly, in that it was similar to what most places sell the current release of his St. Jo at now. This goes on the list of the many, many things I wish I’d bought. Agree on Faury VV as well; seems built for the long haul.
My first response is that 2003 is precisely not a vintage I would expect to last as long as some, because of the high ripeness levels of the wines.
But otherwise, I don’t see any reason why wines from St Joseph today shouldn’t age just as well as wines from other parts of N. Rhone. Many producers are caring for their vineyards and making wines just as well (or better) than producers from more heralded regions like Cote Rotie, Hermitage, and Cornas. I posted notes recently on the 13 Chave St Joe, and 13 Clape Renaissance, and would consider both of those to be very age-worthy.
Earlier in the year I was able to try a couple of older Gonon wines: 86 St Joseph Rouge, and 98 Olivieres Blanc. Both were excellent, with the blanc actually seeming much younger than its years.
Keep in mind that St Joseph is not just one small, contained region, it’s a long archipelago of vineyards that stretch north and south along the region, with many producers farming and making wines. You’ll find a wide variety of quality, as always it depends a lot on the producer.
I had the '89s from that release a bunch of times. One bottle was absolutely stunning. Others were more in the territory of just OK. They were $65.
I had an '89 Gachon St. Joseph a few weeks ago and it was very nice but past peak.
That’s what I would have thought too, but the 03 Northern Rhones have surprised me with how good they are, and how well they have aged.
In the South, I agree the wines mostly cracked up early.
Some long time followers of Bordeaux say the 1959’s – another extremely hot year – kept very well for a long time despite the early beliefs they would need quick consumption like a typical flabby hot year (maybe 1976?)