2019 St Joseph Blanc, Les Oliviers, Pierre Gonon, Rhône
Critics reviews
Pale, glistening yellow. Meyer lemon, pear nectar and jasmine scents show excellent clarity and pick up hints of tarragon and candied ginger with air. Lively and expansive on the palate, offering intense citrus, orchard and pit fruit flavors and suave mineral and floral nuances. Shows fine delineation and spicy cut on the finish, which leaves honeysuckle and chamomile notes behind.
Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (May 2020)
Indicative blend from two cask samples.
Mineral and attractive nose, cereal husk and honeyed notes. Rounded texture, roasted almond with a salty note, a clean and creamy mouthfeel, and an anise note on the finish – very good!
Drink 2022 - 2028
Alistair Cooper MW, JancisRobinson.com (December 2020)
Rich yellow in colour, slightly honeyed, very high in alcohol, very rich in body and puppy fat. There's a little honeysuckle on the nose. Low acidity, but it has an inner freshness. Fermented in fûts and old barriques, spends a year on the lees with no racking. Picked in two passages.
Drink 2020 - 2025
Matt Walls, Decanter.com (October 2020)
The 2019 Saint Joseph Les Oliviers Blanc reminds me of a top Hermitage Blanc and brings textbook richness, depth, and a sense of minerality. Quince, buttered toast, spice, and white flower notes define this terrific white, and it’s mouth-filling, balanced, and lengthy on the palate.
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (February 2022)
About this WINE
Domaine Pierre Gonon
Likeable brothers Pierre and Jean Gonon make exemplars of fine St Joseph wines. Their red wine is sourced from six hectares covering the three best communes in the appellation, namely Tournon, Mauves and St Jean de Muzols.
Pierre and Jean Gonon farm dramatically steep vineyards and back-breaking work follows organic practices, with no use of herbicides or pesticides and only natural composts to nurture the uncompromising soil of decomposed granite and calcareous limestone
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.
White Rhône Blend
With the exception of the wines from Condrieu and Château-Grillet virtually all Rhône Valley whites are made from blends.
In the north, the white wines of Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, St-Joseph, and St-Péray are produced from blends of Marsanne and Roussanne. Generally Marsanne is the dominant partner and it lends colour, body and weight to the blend, as well as richly scented fruit. Roussanne, a notoriously low yielder and pernickety to grow, produces intensely aromatic wines which contribute bouquet, delicacy and finesse to the blend.
Until about 15 years ago there was very little interest in southern Rhône whites as it was widely believed that the combination of dull non aromatic grapes and the baking summer heat meant quality wine production was nigh impossible. Since then the quality has improved markedly through the introduction of cool fermentation techniques and increased plantings of northern Rhône white grapes.
The base of many blends is still Grenache Blanc, a widely planted variety producing fresh wines with apple-like fruits, often with hints of aniseed. Ugni Blanc is still found in many blends, as is Clairette though their general lack of character and definition has led to a reduction in plantings. The future for southern Rhône whites appears to lie with Roussanne, Marsanne, and, increasingly, Viognier.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Indicative blend from two cask samples.
Mineral and attractive nose, cereal husk and honeyed notes. Rounded texture, roasted almond with a salty note, a clean and creamy mouthfeel, and an anise note on the finish – very good!
Drink 2022 - 2028
Alistair Cooper MW, JancisRobinson.com (December 2020)
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