2012 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (10/22/2014)
Quite nice, somewhat high-toned medium dark fruit, good but mellow acidity, very fine tannins, hint of orange peel. A medium-full bodied wine, showing more elegance and finesse than power, quite primary, almost grapey at this stage. A very nice rendition, should drink well down the line. (91 pts.)
Drink or hold? I have 3 bottles and they’ll be my first Gonon SJ.
Thanks for the note.
I loved my first bottle a month ago. If you’ve never had it, definitely pop one!
Michael
i’ve heard something about a 15 year rule…
I’m hoping to take delivery of the 12s in a month or so, thanks for the note Alan.
Funny. I opened one last night, but alas mine was corked. 
How is the local wine shopping Eric?
I haven’t looked around much yet, but I did get a couple of nice cases of Rhones from a terrific vendor in Lucerne. That is where the Gonon came from.
I really think these young Syrah are undrinkable this young, unless your thing is fruity, completely primary wines. I would not even be surprised to see a wine as young as this still showing reduction, which limits even further its drinkability.
Carl, have you tried this wine? I didn’t get any reduction. It offers a lot of fun right now, and if you’ve never tried it seems silly to wait 15 years. It’s my fifth vintage, and I’m glad I opened one young.
Michael
I was speculating on the reduction, based on recent tastings of other 2012 wines (a Nebbiolo and a Mascalese). But aside from that, I don’t find Syrah to be a particularly interesting wine to drink very young, as opposed to with some bottle age. But it is all personal preference of course…
I’m not a fan of drinking young Syrah, but I opened a bottle of the 2012 Gonon to get a sense of the vintage and to see if I should buy a six pack for my cellar. Clearly, this is not showing what it will offer once properly aged, but it was still very enjoyable and IMO it’s pretty easy to sense the potential. I’m happy to have experienced it. I bought the six pack. Nice QPR if you ask me. No harm in popping one now.
I recently bought 2009 and 2010 Gonon, and the retailer suggested I drink the 2009 vintage first. Boy was I disappointed, it was sweet like some California Syrah. I hope the 2010 is a different kettle of fish.
Thanks for the note Alan.
I’m waiting for mine to ship and might try one (I also prefer it with age).
The 2009 is nothing like California Syrah (and not all California Syrah is “sweet”). 2009 is a ripe vintage, and will take some patience for it to settle down. 2010 is a different, somewhat more restrained style wine, but it is also totally shut down now. Just throw them all in the cellar and get back to us in 2024.
I remember getting reamed for opening this several months back, everyone saying the usual (not sure on this board or another), but this wine was good to go. Yes, surely it will develop more and it was definitely young, but it was not a sin to drink now for the …ahem, ‘science’ of it.
You will not be disappointed in it if you have anywhere north of 3 bottles.
And for Matt, the 15-year rule doesn’t really apply to Gonon or to other St. Joe’s: for my taste, I like them a few years out to 10. Youth is not a hindrance to enjoyment!
Do we really even know what Gonon tastes like at 15+ years old? Sure there have been a few isolated sightings of older Gonon, but not many.
And the 15 year rule has been plastered on a few other things around the net lately. I’m waiting for someone to say “15 year rule” for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
As for the 2009 and 2010 - there’s a lot of stuffing and all the necessary tannic structure for extensive aging IMO. I’m not going near mine until they hit at least age 10 from release.
Patience will likely be rewarded, and I’ll probably regret my decision, but I decided not to put any '09 in the cellar after tasting on release, as it was just too ripe for me…same goes for Allemand.
I just love exploring the variations of the vintages. I do not get the too ripe/too lean stuff. We talk about faithfulness to terroir, but if the terroir (which includes the weather - soil does not exist in isolation) produces a wine in a style people don’t like then f*** terroir.
Point taken, and I agree…regarding Gonon specifically, '09 is the only year over the last several years I didn’t buy in any quantity. I appreciate vintage variation and make sure to taste my favorites year in, year out, but won’t necessarily stock up for the long haul.