2014 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (8/18/2017)
This bottle WAY more complex and open for biz since my last in Oct. Has exotic smoked cherry wood, olive tapenade, blood iron, and dusty spice that is truly captivating! Smooth as silk, with med+ bodied liqueured berry fruit that hits the trifecta…blue, black, and red…predominately raspberry, cherry, and red plum…little purple passion. Tannins are dusty dry and quite plush…freshness with stand to attention acidity…funked up nicely with crushed rocks, smoked minerality, and that classic flavor of blood iron. Has a class and elegance to it, yet tells you “I’m here for the long haul!” Wonderful wine! (95 pts.)
Hmm, looks like I need to pull one from my locker. I grabbbed a case, like I do most vintages, and tried one on release, I put it behind 09-13 in quality. Was just thinking about grabbing some Levet from storage, so timely post! Sounds lovely.
And you are right, much more interesting than on release, and while still a little chewy on the back-end, it is fairly approachable. Your note does it justice, quite nice. I would add a slight blood orange citrus note that is really captivating. The crushed rock note is dead-on point! Has a cool, dusty, grainy finish to it.
I got a little disillusioned when i saw it going for $65 in email sales blasts (for the '13 I think). Based on this thread, sounds like it’s worth that though.
I have some bottles of this in the cellar that I have been reluctant to open as I guessed that they would need more time. I was in Tain Hermitage in June with some friends and had dinner at a restaurant in Tournon that had this wine on the list so it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. As Mr B suggests, it was drinking beautifully, though certainly shows further potential. I’ll be taking one out of the cellar in the near future to enjoy, but hope to leave a couple in there for a few more years.
I’ll add a note to this thread from a bottle we drank half of at Passionfish last night. Finishing the second half of the bottle tonight:
2014 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (3/17/2018)
This note is from the second day, having drunk half the bottle from a restaurant wine list yesterday. Opaque dark garnet, with a violet tinge. The nose is reticent, dark crush berries, with hints of dried herbs and green peppercorns; this is really a thinking man’s wine, one that needs contemplation and patience. Lean and sinewy, but with plenty of reserved intensity, there is a good dose of dark, brooding fruit, more blackberry, with a bit of boysenberry, amazing little twists of complexity float along on top of that base, with notes of herbs and anise; strong but well balanced acidity brightens the wine, and gives it plenty of verve, then some medium fine tannins punch through along with a little kick of sweet fruit on the finish. In any lineup of bigger, warmer wines, this would be swamped, but on its own the brilliance and subtlety shine through. A tremendous wine in a very difficult vintage. (94 pts.)
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