About this WINE
Domaine Jean-Michel Gerin
Farming an outstanding plot of 10 hectares in Côte-Rôtie and another of a similar size (and quality) in Condrieu, Jean-Michel Gerin is one of the acknowledged masters of the region, imbuing Syrah with a wonderful purity and bringing out the full richness of Viognier. He is not only one of the great characters, but also one of the greatest winemakers in the Northern Rhône.
Gerin's winemaking methods aim for fragrance and sumptuous texture, with the wines' substance based on fruit rather than tannic mass. He employs copious use of wood, yet his wines seem to integrate it in a remarkable way, a model for subtly oaked fruit purity.
In addition to his appellation sites, he also makes excellent and well-priced Vins de Pays, and, to demonstrate both his passion and his pioneering spirit, he also has a vineyard in Priorat, a highly successful joint venture with Laurent Combier of Crozes-Hermitage.
Saint-Joseph
Saint-Joseph is the second-largest appellation in the Northern Rhône with 50 growers producing wines from over 600 hectares of vineyards. Established in 1956, over 90 percent of the wine is red – made exclusively from the Syrah grape. The white wines, meanwhile, are typically a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne varieties. Its vineyards run due south on the west side below Condrieu, and are in six communes: Mauves, Tournon, St Jean-de-Muzols, Lemps, Vion and Glun.
The styles of wine in St Joseph tend to be much lighter than other red Appellations d'Origine Contrôlee and the quality can vary dramatically. The soils and climate differ, as it is a long, narrow AOC. There is no particular characteristic of the commune as some wines are produced near Côte-Rôtie, whilst others are near to Cornas.
The best St Josephs are still produced in the original heartland of the appellation between St Jean-de-Muzols and Mauves, where soils are predominately granitic with patches of limestone and schist. Typically, even the finest St Josephs are slightly lighter and faster-maturing than the wines of Hermitage, as Saint-Joseph's east-facing vineyards lose the sun up to two hours earlier in the crucial ripening season.
Recommended producers: Pierre Gaillard, Domaine Coursodon and Paul Jaboulet.
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.
It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.
South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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Description
From three separate vineyards, one north (Chavanay), one in the middle (Les Serines) and one in the south (Serosse) the outstanding 2012 boasts crushed rock acidity, an impressive weight of dark fruit and dignified yet ripe tannins in support.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
Jean-Michel is one of the great characters of the Valley, and a passionate advocate of all things vinous, as the quality of his Priorat joint venture underlines. Côte Rôtie, where his father was Mayor, is of course his natural homestead and where he communes with the vines with an almost preternatural understanding. What is bred in the bone…
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