2020 St Joseph, Pierre Gonon, Rhône
Critics reviews
Deep magenta. Displays expansive aromas of black raspberry, cherry liqueur, candied flowers and olive, along with exotic spice and smoky mineral nuances. Weighty as well as energetic in style, offering sappy, mineral-drenched black and blue fruit preserves, floral pastille flavors and hints of star anise and allspice. Finishes juicy, lively and wonderfully long, with resonating spice and floral notes and youthfully gripping tannins.
Drink 2028 - 2038
Josh Raynolds, Vinous.com (December 2022)
Still in barrels at the time of my visit, Jean Gonon blended a representative sample for me to review. The 2020 Saint Joseph is classic Gonon, with a complex nose of crushed stone, violets, cherries and blueberries; a palate that's medium to full-bodied, concentrated and tannic yet silky; and a vibrant and long finish.
Drink 2023 - 2035
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (January 2022)
100% Syrah. Cask sample tasted at the domaine.
Bright and pure with bags of energy. Minerally freshness but the palate rich and silky with a spicy element that persists. Tannins present but finely honed. Dense but almost weightless with that minerally freshness and feel. Less power than 2019, in which the alcohol was almost 1% higher.
Drink 2025 - 2035
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com (December 2021)
From organically grown grapes.
St. Joseph is often declared to be a second-tier appellation in the Northern Rhone, but here’s proof that it can play in the region's first league. This has an incredibly deep nose of ripe blackberries, other forest berries and smoke. On the barely full-bodied palate, it is simultaneously rich, focused and extremely complex, with very graceful fine tannins and stacks of stony minerality at the breathtakingly fresh finish.
Drink or hold
Stuart Pigott, JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)
A classic expression of Saint-Joseph—fruit melded with black olive—this has body but is light in tannin, while the acidity is low but balanced. It is an elegant, juicy, very drinkable vintage with moderate alcohol, lower than the 2019. The wine had just been transferred to tank post-élevage at the time of tasting, so it was showing quite closed; it may well improve and show better after bottling.
Drink 2022 - 2030
Matt Walls, Decanter.com (October 2021)
Showing consistently and giving some perspective regarding 2021, the 2020 Saint Joseph is gorgeously rich and textured, with medium to full-bodied aromas and flavours of ripe black fruits, roasted herbs, and earth floral nuances. Despite its wealth of fruit, there’s plenty of structure here, and if anything, it’s showing more structure and tannic grip today. It deserves 3-4 years and will evolve gracefully over the following decade with ease. This is a brilliant Saint Joseph.
Drink 2027 - 2038
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2024)
The refined 2020 Saint-Joseph hits the palate with great concentration and a juicy core of red fruits. Pencil shavings, crushed violets and cedar add more layers. Maintaining spot-on balance and neatly framed by polished tannins, the 2020 Saint-Joseph is classic Gonon. It is less ripe and flamboyant than the 2018 or 2019, but offers more substance than the 2021, concludes with lifting energy on the savoury finish.
Drink 2026 - 2038
Nicolas Greinacher, Vinous.com (March 2024)
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.
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.
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
Showing consistently and giving some perspective regarding 2021, the 2020 Saint Joseph is gorgeously rich and textured, with medium to full-bodied aromas and flavours of ripe black fruits, roasted herbs, and earth floral nuances. Despite its wealth of fruit, there’s plenty of structure here, and if anything, it’s showing more structure and tannic grip today. It deserves 3-4 years and will evolve gracefully over the following decade with ease. This is a brilliant Saint Joseph.
Drink 2027 - 2038
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2024)
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