This is really impressive, and continues a streak of 2015 N. Rhones that has me very excited about the vintage. It’s packed with bright red and dark berried fruit, but it’s by no means overripe. The aromatics keep opening out and gaining complexity over a couple of hours with peppery, floral, and faintly smoky/reductive accents around the ripe fruit, and there’s a touch of earthy bitterness on the finish along with some grainy tannin. I love the overall balance and finesse here and this is a crazy good value.
I’m glad to see this. I wonder how the VV compares. I don’t have much cellar space, so the old vines is all I’ve ever purchased.
Did John Morris try the Faury with his group? I’ll have to double back and check that post.
I have no intentions of trying the VV any time soon. I’ve always liked it in the past, but each time I’ve had it on release have found it very tannic and more about potential than pleasure. My read on '15 right now is there’s a lot of ripeness, but a lot of structure beneath. I’m buying these Faurys from Martin Steinley, and I’ve bugged him to ship the regular St. Jos to my home for drinking, and the VVs straight to my offsite storage so I can bury them for a decade and a half.
Warren, I am not Salil and I have sold the Faury wines for many years, so take this with whatever size grain de sel you see fit. In every vintage, I find the standard St. Joseph cuvee to be a much more enjoyable wine early; the VV definitely needs time as Salil states. The 2015s are no exception. The standard cuvee is undeniably open, supple and delicious even now, and the VV is dark, firm and concentrated.
Haven’t tried the 2015s, but I like both the regular and the VV Saint Joseph wines, and even the Collines Rhodaniennes VdP Syrah. The Cote Rotie is a bit flamboyant from the higher than typical percentage of Viognier.
I tried the 2015 Faury St Joe last week, and immediately bought a case at $24.75.
Here are my quick impressions:
Ripe nose, iodine, licorice, incipient pepper, loads black cherries, great attack, quite dry despite the color and nose, bright with a bit of tannin in end, medium bodied but with good dry extract and a long finish, shows just a touch of stem. Young, but already so engaging, a substantial step up from prior vintages but still true to the house style. Truly sensational QPR. 92-93 pts.
The source that I bought from says that it is the VV for the European market. The VV here is a barrel selection from Kermit. No idea which has priority or if it’s entirely accurate as they didn’t know any absolute. Seems like it should be a similar wine, though I’d like to try them side by side.
I already have a few 15 VV, but this thread convinced me to hide the VV and pick up some of the regular St Joseph. Will be popping one tomorrow with braised short rib!
I wasn’t really hunting down 2015 Rhones, but with endorsements by both the great Salil and Patrick on this producer, I hope I can track this and the VV down in my market.
2015 Domaine Faury St. Joseph- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (2/25/2018)
Quintessential St. Joseph. Aromas of tar, violet, blackberry, ash, and baking spice. Killer nose. On the palate, medium bodied with dark cherry, blackberry, licorice, spicy black pepper. Medium acidity, and a little bitterness on the finish. (91 pts.)
Perfect pairing with braised short rib. I’m sure it will improve, but this is a great cellar defender against the stuff that NEEDS age.
In our '15 tasting in January (link here), we had both the St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes and the Cote Rotie. I liked them both. Here’s what I posted about the St. Joseph VV:
Dom. Faury – St. Joseph - Vieille Vignes: Rich black cherry and blackberry on the nose and a trace of sulfur. Rich, ripe, sweet, big, but with good structure. A tad hot, but with nice sweetness fruit on the finish. My descriptors don’t capture what I liked about the wine – that it seemed to have more backbone than most. $30
My rank/score: 2nd/90+ points