Had a 1997 Pierre Gaillard St. Joseph Les Pierres Reserve Clos de Cuminaille the other day. Was fantastic and probably could easily go for another 5-7 years.
Not sure about the 20 years mark but some that haven’t been mentionned and are age worthy:
- Graillot
- Domaine du Monteillet (Stéphane Montez): Cuvée du Papy
- Domaine Les Bruyères (David Reynaud): 350M
- Gangloff
Alain
1 Like
Jaboulet produced some reserve personelle back around 1996/7. They were drinking well at 15 yrs old, but last bottle I tried, around 3 yrs ago had dried out. They were just about capable of reaching 20 from magnum, but it was borderline.
I Also had Guy Farge’s 2017 top Saint-Joseph from old vines not long ago. I think it will be able to age very well.
A 2001 Bernard Faurie Saint Joseph that I drank 17 years later showed up well.
I also had a nice bottle of 1989 Gonon acquired from Chambers Street. Drank next to a 1983 Juge. Those were the days.
I didn’t go back through the thread, but I’m sure some of the better Faury regular and VV bottlings will go 20 years. The '05 regular bottling was delicious last year, but could easily go another 5 or more.
Several wines have been mentioned that can go 20+ depending on what you want out of them. Most are not going to become profound, and might be more than a little austere by the time 20 hits.
The St.Jo Domaine Chave definitely can go over 20-25 years … also the (old) Gripa (Berceau), I had some 1982 and 1985 …
Les Granits by Chapoutier is also very ageworthy (no matter what others say), I had a 1995 a while back that was outstanding.
Another name is Faury …
I had not that old Gonon, so I´m not sure if it really improves beyond 12-15y …
Most St.Jo are rather for earlier drinking … the Appellation is so wide spread, it really depends were the vines are … I had a talk with Jean-Louis Chave in September - and we agreed that St.Jo is rather a wine of pleasure and for the table … than a vin de garde for extended cellaring and contemplated drinking … (but his best vintages can be …)
He bottled that Foudre in November 2016. I bought some in 2017 and it’s quite amazing. I haven’t tasted it in a while though. Iirc he had fermentation issues, either alcoholic or malolactic. Not surprisingly, this bottling is not for the VA-sensitive. It’s the VV Cuvée so I don’t have any worries to cellar it, but I’m also in the camp of those who normally drink their St-Joseph on the younger side say within 10-15 years.
Completely agree. In all honesty, I’m finding that with many wines. There comes a point where I have to ask myself: does this actually get better? Maybe I’ve also stopped looking at the romance of a wine that has been heroically aged and just want something that hits the spots
Exactly. We have all spent a lot of time, wine and money chasing the grail of the perfectly aged example of X. It’s great when it hits, but it’s so often like trying to get to the end of a rainbow, rather than appreciating the beauty in front of us.
Hey, if the spots fit, wear 'em. I am opening up many of my cellared wines these days and coming across the thought of why did spend so much money on something creating only marginal joy?
1 Like
I actually DO search for wines that improve for 20 to 30+ years - buy them, cellar them … (drink/taste them) -
only St.Joseph isn´t really one of these … I open these usually between 12 and 15+ years.
1 Like
In the interest of science:
This is smoky and a bit dusty, a bit deficient in fruit. Still enjoyable though I expect it was best younger. Not a bad effort for this wine. I wanted to open a Domaine St. Jo 2001 as well but there’s only so much science you can do on a Wednesday night.
CellarTracker notes are interesting on those two wines. Early on people seemed to prefer the Offerus, though some noted that even it needed some time. After some number of years, the Domaine wine seemed to come out of its shell and recent notes are quite good. I’ve only had the 01 Domaine once and it was really enjoyable but it’s not a powerful wine and you can see how it might have seemed thin and tannic when young.
2 Likes
From the picture, that is showing its age.
This is why I don’t post pictures of myself!
It was a bit light in color, more like a young Burgundy, but I don’t think that’s unexpected. There was no browning.
Here are notes on a few with a fair bit of age:
1998 Domaine Barge St. Joseph Clos des Martinets - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (2/17/2018)
A very nice aged Northern Rhone, meaty with a little pepper and flowers, it is much more about savoriness than fruit, but it still has plenty of the latter left to keep it in balance. Yum. (91 pts.)
1997 Domaine Louis Cheze St. Joseph Cuvée Prestige de Caroline - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (12/23/2016)
Crisp tart raspberry with a little leather and spice and buttressed by soft tannin, it’s delicious, but really crying out for food. It is showing some evolution, but at a much slower rate than I would have expected. (92 pts.)
1996 Alain Graillot St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (1/17/2014)
Aromatically,it works, a mix of tapenade, leather, pepper, and a little bretty stink, but it’s just tart and mean on the palate, which is how I recall it on release as well.
… and the answer is unsurprisingly “yes” …
Domaine du Monteillet St-Joseph cuvée du papy 1996 : 16,5/20 - 30/3/2022
Poivre, cassis et olive verte pour un nez expressif. Beau jus longiligne, avec un très bel allant de jeunesse conservée.
An interesting challenge with the beautiful/slender/frsh Jamet Côte-Rôtie 2008 served just before …
The 2009 Dom. Durand Eric & Joel ‘Les Coteaux’ [St Joseph] has been gracing my glass the last couple of days but I don’t think it is a double decade runner. This was a French tax stamped, gray market import, from a private cellar apparently if the rear label is accurate. I had the sister ‘Les Lautarets’ bottling from the same year back in 2018 and quite liked it, but that tailed off on the second day. I think this ‘Les Coteaux’ would have been better younger, and I would NOT consider this 13.5% NoRho a candidate for two decades of cellar sleep. Some almonds, marzipan, and white pepper on the nose; then mostly black plums on the palate. There is still some chalky tannin and a line of acidity here. Texturally, it feels smooth, and glides down the gullet, in a refined way that I generally don’t ascribe to the region. In my scorecard, a B+ and notably I liked a sister bottling younger, notching it a rung higher four years ago. Very light sediment if any, with a smidge of crystals on the cork.
PS: I tried this is a few different stems, and the one I liked it in most (although not pictured) was in a wide flared Burgundy style (Nachtmann Vivendi Pinot Noir specifically).
1 Like