Some of the world’s greatest wines come from the northern Rhône Valley of France, from appellations like Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage and Cornas. These are wines that tell stories of devotion and arduous labor, and of the intimate human relationship over 2,000 years with grapevines and precipitous rocky hillsides, all brought to life with an almost savage expressiveness by the syrah grape.
The best of these wines are made in minute quantities, so naturally they are rare and expensive. Yet once you’ve tasted these captivating wines, you find yourself chasing that experience again and again. And if those top wines have proved frustratingly elusive, you want at least a good idea of what you are missing.
For both of these reasons, I am grateful for the existence of St.-Joseph, a northern Rhône appellation that can capture and convey the elemental aromas, flavors and emotions of these wines, but in a more open, easier-going manner. That is to say, the top wines don’t require as much aging before they can be enjoyed, perhaps five to seven years rather than the eight to 12 for a Cornas or the 15 to 20 for a Hermitage or Côte-Rôtie. And they are not as expensive, though that, too, is a relative question.
The wine panel recently tasted 20 bottles of St.-Joseph from recent vintages, primarily 2012 but with a few ‘11s and ‘13s included. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Emilie Perrier, the beverage director at Gabriel Kreuther in Manhattan, and Arnaud Tronche, wine director and a partner at Racines NY in the New York City neighborhood of Tribeca.
We found a region seemingly in transition, in which quite a few producers are working hard to realize the latent potential of St.-Joseph, an ambition that, as in other northern Rhône regions, leads in several stylistic directions. But in the best of these wines, we found beauty and the distinctiveness that makes the northern Rhône such a singular site for syrah.
Like a gerrymandered political district, the long, narrow appellation of St.-Joseph owes far more to special interests than to common sense. It stretches an absurd 40 miles along the west bank of the Rhône River, from Condrieu on the north to Cornas and St.-Péray on the south, encompassing many different terroirs, from steep granite slopes to loamy flatlands.
It’s a far cry from the original notion of St.-Joseph, which in 1956 joined the hillside vineyards of six communes — Tournon, Mauves, Glun, Lemps, Vion and St.-Jean-de-Muzols — under the sobriquet St.-Joseph, encompassing roughly 250 acres.
Now, St.-Joseph covers almost 30,000 acres. Many of the wines carrying the St.-Joseph appellation on their labels today come from the flat areas, where the soils are more vigorous and the land lends itself to automated labor. The wines can be pleasant if bland, more syrah than St.-Joseph. The sense of place so intrinsic to the best wines comes first of all from the crumbling granite soils on hillsides so steep that they must be plowed by cable and winch, and some are even too steep for that.
Wines from those hillside vineyards can capture the essence of St.-Joseph, a firm core of minerality wrapped in savory, peppery flavors of smoked meats, olives and herbs, with grace notes of violets and red and black fruits. These wines can show a density, which can be either as natural and fine-grained as the granite itself or, using the tools of the cellar, can seem polished to a glossy sheen with a light or heavy hand.
We preferred the less obtrusive wines without that modern overlay.
“I was not expecting so many modern wines,” Emilie said. “I love the floral aspects, the peppercorn flavors of the leaner, old-school wines.”
Arnaud attributed our sense that many of the wines were getting bigger, denser and riper partly to climate change. “There’s not much in between the peppery and floral and the big and polished,” he said.
The top wines generally came from areas within the original St.-Joseph zone, but not all of them. Our favorite was the gorgeous 2012 Les Vinsonnes from Domaine Alain Voge, which is better known for its Cornas. The grapes came from hillside vineyards in the communes of Mauves and Glun. No. 2 was the 2012 Terre Blanche from Domaine Monier, full of mineral, floral and peppery flavors that Arnaud called classic St.-Joseph. The Monier grapes come from the granite slopes above the town of St.-Désirat, a little north of the original St.-Joseph zone, yet very much a lovely, distinctive wine.
Our No. 5 wine, the 2012 Domaine Faury, came from the town of Chavanay at the northern end of the appellation, far from the original six communes. Yet because the grapes are also from granite hillsides, it displayed the signature peppery, spicy, olive and herb flavors. At $32, the Faury was our best value, which is both far cheaper than top wines from Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie but also suggests that good wines from all over the northern Rhône are very much in demand.
Nos. 3 and 4 were made by two of the most important names in St.-Joseph. No. 3 was the 2012 Pierre Gonon, a structured yet energetic wine with a firm mineral core that will take a few years to open up. The Gonon brothers, Jean and Pierre, who keep their father’s name on the label, farm several hillside vineyards within the original zone and work with meticulous care. Their Vieilles Vignes cuvée, made only in exceptional vintages, may be the closest thing to a cult St.-Joseph.
No. 4 was the ripe, complex 2012 from Domaine Jean-Louis Chave, which is better known now as the leading estate of Hermitage. But before decamping for Hermitage, the Chave family farmed in St.-Joseph for centuries, and Jean-Louis Chave, the current head of the domaine, is determined to reclaim and rebuild the family’s lost hillside vineyards in St.-Joseph. His project is already years in the making, but the wines bear testament to St.-Joseph’s excellent potential.
Beyond the wines in the tasting, other producers to consider carefully include La Ferme des Sept Lunes, Dard & Ribo, Bernard Gripa and Etienne Bécheras.
Syrah is now grown all over the world, and exceptional wines are made with it in California and in Washington, in Australia and in South Africa, in the Languedoc and in Italy. Yet as good as those wines can be in their individual ways, they rarely display the glorious, almost primitive flavors of stone and iron wrapped in a savory package, which are very much the province of the northern Rhône. You find that sense of place in Hermitage, Côte-Rôtie and Cornas, and increasingly you find it in St.-Joseph.
20 Top Wines From St.-Joseph
— Three and a half stars: Domaine Alain Voge St.-Joseph Les Vinsonnes 2012, $50
Pure, densely textured, smoky and meaty, with flavors of minerals, olives, herbs and flowers. (Citadel Trading, New York)
— Three stars: Domaine Monier St.-Joseph Terre Blanche 2012, $49
Well structured, with earthy, spicy, floral aromas and peppery mineral flavors. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, California)
— Three stars: Pierre Gonon St.-Joseph 2012, $58
Deep, dark and energetic, with great structure and an almost granitic earthiness. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant)
— Three stars: Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St.-Joseph 2012, $60
Complex, with ripe fruit flavors and underlying notes of violets, olives and smoke. (Erin Cannon Imports, Manhasset, New York)
— Best Value: Two and a half stars: Domaine Faury St.-Joseph 2012, $32
Firm tannins, with peppery, spicy flavors of black olives and herbs. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant)
—Two and a half stars: André Perret St.-Joseph Les Grisières 2012, $59
Dense and substantial, with pretty floral, herbal aromas and stony, smoky, olive flavors. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant)
—Two and a half stars: Alain Graillot St.-Joseph 2013, $43
Smoky, spicy and meaty, with a high-toned citrus note. (Europvin, Van Nuys, California)
— Two stars: Hervé Souhaut St.-Joseph Les Cessieux 2013, $53
Funky, rustic and modestly tannic, with pleasing aromas of herbs, flowers and red fruit. (Jenny & François/U.S.A. Wine Imports, New York)
— Two stars: Vincent Paris St.-Joseph Les Côtes 2012, $29
Dense and tight, with peppery, meaty flavors and notes of white fruit. (A Thomas Calder Selection/Polaner Selections, Mount Kisco, New York)
— Two stars: Delas St.-Joseph Ste.-Épine 2011, $73
Ripe and somewhat polished, with flavors of sweet red and black fruits, smoke and a touch of oak. (Maisons Marques & Domaines, Oakland, California)
Recipe pairing: Eggplant Baked with Tomatoes and Ricotta Salata
6 to 12 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium-size eggplants, 9 to 10 ounces each
Salt and ground black pepper
2 ounces Serrano ham or prosciutto, finely diced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
1 cup finely chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon Espelette pepper or hot paprika, or to taste
4 ounces ricotta salata, finely diced
Preparation
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Use a little of the oil to brush the bottom of an oblong baking dish, like a lasagna pan, 9 by 13 inches. Snip off any stems from the eggplants but keep the leaves on. Quarter the eggplants vertically and place them skin side down in the baking dish. Brush the cut sides with oil, about a tablespoon. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake 30 minutes
2. Remove from the oven, but keep oven on. Place the eggplant quarters on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut away the flesh, quite close to the skin. Dice the flesh, then chop it fine, by hand or in a food processor. But don’t let it become a purée.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the ham and sauté on medium until it barely starts to brown. Add the garlic and oregano, sauté another 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes, Cook on medium-high until any juices from the tomatoes begin to reduce, about 5 minutes. Stir in the eggplant. Season with salt, black pepper and Espelette. Stir in 1/2 tablespoon of the remaining oil.
4. Top the eggplant skins with this mixture, mounding it up a bit. Return eggplants to the baking dish. Top each with the cheese and drizzle with remaining oil. Bake 20 minutes, until eggplants start to sizzle and cheese has softened – it won’t melt. Serve at once or let cool and serve at room temperature.`
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