2007 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (12/27/2010)
A most elegant St. Joseph, particularly considering the vintage. After some time, the nose exhibits blue and red fruits, pepper, leather, but overall is still a bit tight on the nose. The palate shows a silky texture with good weight, and an emphasis on the fruit aspect of this lush vintage. Fantastic finish for such a young wine, but overall the entire experience truly speaks ‘elegant’ to me. (91 pts.)
Compared to '06, in particular, as well as '05, the '07 Rhones seem to have more fruit at the core than structure, and this wine really seems structured more like a Burgundy than a rustic Rhone - much of what I like about Chave, actually.
Besides, '07 Rhone is the vintage of a lifetime/millenium/infinity, right?
Todd, thanks for the note. Do you know if this is a Kermit lynch import. I’m trying to remember the name of a wine I got a small taste of at a tasting event and I think this is it. All I remember was that it was a KL import. Your note sounds similar to what I remember it tasting like.
I think it was more Southern Rhone that is the “vintage of a lifetime” At any rate, in the north the vintage was a bit cooler, and overall the wines appear to be a little leaner and higher acid - though still with plenty of stuffing and fruit. 07 Gonon, for example, is a bit less ripe and higher acid than 06 was for that wine (at least for my tastes). Faury 06 was a fabulous wine, while the 07 is too lean for even my tastes.
Jean Gonon and his brother are fantastic.
They only make two wines.
A St Joseph Rouge and a white that has some fancy name.
In 2004, a friend, Deane Lindsey, hooked me and several of my buddies up with Jean for a tasting. After the tasting we invited him to dinner in Valence with us. He was just so cool. We had to do it. He showed up!
This restaurant, L’epicerie, had the whole lineup of 78 Jadots including some grand crus for less than 180 euro on the list on consignment. French people hate older wines in general. We wore it out! (I know. What were we doing drinking Burgundy in Valence. We did have a nice St Joseph from one of Jean’s friends. ) Jean was such fun. I have such good memories of that visit.
All the accolades now for him and his brother since David Lillie and the west coast importer, Jolivin, have expanded his distribution are well deserved.
This 07 is quite primary but there is something compelling about it. Delicious. You can sense the love that went into making this wine. I think all of his wines are very special.
All positive accolades for this domaine are appropriate.
I don’t buy by points, or care what some ‘expert’ gives in regards to points, but I keep points on many wines for my own future reference, and I consider it more a ‘grade’.
Tim, unless there’s someone I’m forgetting (at my age that’s a possibility for sure) KL only imports two St. Joseph producers these days, Faury and Monier-Perroul. If you tried a wine at a KL event, it was probably one of those two.
Marshall – Kermit told me that he has Gonon for the rest of the country except CA where it is Jolivin. (But I think Tim was referring to K&L Wines, which carries the Gonon imported by Jolivin.)
At any rate, in the north the vintage was a bit cooler, and overall the wines appear to be a little leaner and higher acid - though still with plenty of stuffing and fruit. 07 Gonon, for example, is a bit less ripe and higher acid than 06 was for that wine (at least for my tastes). Faury 06 was a fabulous wine, while the 07 is too lean for even my tastes.
