TN: 2012 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph

Another fabulous night of wine and food at RN74. Service was impeccable as usual. Wines weren’t too shabby, either!

D_ecanted for about an 90 minutes. If you looked up the definition of ‘French Syrah’ in the dictionary, the picture of this bottle would be present. Nose of bacon, olives, tar, black fruit, a little gaminess, earth, and violets. Precise palate highlighted by notes of dark berries, meat, and an easily noticed lift from some acidic structure which leads to a terrific finish of juicy minerals. In a great spot now, but can see this wine effortlessly lasting 20 years._ 94pts.

Thanks for the note. I’ve only got a couple of these so I was planning to hold them for a couple of more years. Loved the 2011 also. Too bad the price on these has escalated so much! [cry.gif]

I really liked the 2012 a lot more than I’ve liked the 2013…although I think the 2013 is starting to show well. The 2012 was just so damned delicious right out of the gate though. I miss the days when this was only $45/bottle (what I paid from a NYC retailer including the cost of shipping).

I dipped into my stash and tasted the 2012 early last year, almost in a back-to-back against the 2011 a month later. The 2012 was in a happy zone and drank better than the 2011 which was no slouch, either.

Opened a 2013 tonight. Pretty open and expressive, Nose took an hour to come around but palate was ready from the open. Was good pairing with lamb but I’m not sure I buy it at current prices. It’s not that far off from Jamet or Clape Pricing and I think I like them a lot more for the price.

2012 is so delicious right now…miss the days when the wines were $30/bottle.

I think 2013, like 2010, are for the long haul, and will outshine the other more recent vintages, excepting maybe 2016.

Glad I have a couple of cases spread across 2010 - 2013, but I also lost interest when the prices stared getting stupid.

Absolutely love his white St.Joseph

Still a buyer here at $100 per bottle for any vintage for any of those who think it’s not worth the price.
Alex

Yes, the Saint Joseph Les Oliviers blanc is quite good.

-Al

Opened another 2013 Gonon tonight. Really “bright toned” fruits that I had a hard time with. My wife thought “cleaning supplies” but that blew off after an hour or so. 2012 Levet Chav opened around the same time was much more our speed.

Seems like both are very traditional but I prefer the levet

More musings on unobtainium[stirthepothal.gif]

I do love the 2012, but the 13 is just ok. If people would just realize that the change in price is only a result of the three tier system. It’s not a $100/wine in Europe.

What is it in Europe?

I guess it comes down to personal taste. I drank too many 13s (this is when it was pretty readily available for under $50). Loved the acidity, the savory olive notes, violets, electricity. The 12 is beautiful as well, but a more straightforward wine for me.

Unfortunately it is going to be if the current trend continues.

One of my regular French online shops - which has been selling Gonon for a good while - has currently 2015, 2016 and 2017 listed at 89 € each, although they are reserved for loyal customers. I believe 15 and 16 arrived at 69 € per but in the last year or so the prices have really gone up. I recently bought their last bottle of Les Oliviers 2016 for 79 €, obviously a different wine altogether but the prices seem to be quite close always for the red and the white. I suppose one can still find the new releases of the red priced in the 60-70 € range but the average price is definitely already higher than that. Quite a rise, as only two years ago I paid 34 € for the 2013.

Yes, Gonon had crept up in prices in Europe. My early purchases, had as early as vintage 2005s when in Paris, was at mid- Euro 20s.

This fits. I used to pay $50 and now pay $100. Seems like Europe has seen something like the same price increase