Tried to locate the 2015 but couldn’t so went with this one instead. I don’t really know if it will improve from here but it provided plenty of pleasure as it is. Perhaps more primary still than I would have expected but there is no denying the fruit is beautiful.
2016 Pierre Gonon Ardèche Les Iles Feray - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Ardèche (23.8.2024)
Popped and poured, enjoyed over 2.5 hours. Very classic but also quite youthful on the nose with dark-as-midnight blackberry fruit, smoke, wet stones and olives and only at the very end some minor animalistic hints starting to emerge. There is this vibrant sweetness to the nose that is remarkably attractive. On the palate it is fairly rich with terrific concentration and quality of blackberry-driven fruit. There is no lack of form or grip but at the end of the day the tannins are rather friendly. Texturally it is a very satisfying drink and to the surprise of no one it performs impeccably well at the table with steak frites. It is less developed than I would hope for and I can’t really say whether it will make old bones or not. At the fair price I paid for it it is a terrific Northern Rhône Syrah that speaks of great winemaking and viticulture and of course the place.
Nice note. I love this wine for its fresh blast of blackberry and black olive, but pricing here has gotten silly. I’ve had the '09 and '10 in the last few years. The '09 felt just a bit tired but the '10 seemed to have plenty of life left. Not sure there’s a lot of upside on long term aging with these though, as they’re so pleasurable young.
I don’t really try to age my Iles, except perhaps by accident. Love them young, and they’re my early cycle pleasure bomb while other N. Rhônes slumber.
Funny, I just got the 2017 Les Iles Feray side by side the 2015 Saint-Joseph, and at this stage of evolution the Les Iles Feray showed much better than its big brother.
A perfectly valid approach if one’s better half doesn’t despise young Syrah
Not that I’m ageing them exactly but I feel like generally at age 8 they for the most part don’t drink like a barrel sample anymore so that’s about what I tend to aim for.
I’m shocked. With any other vintage of St Joe I would’ve believed you, but that 2015 St Joe has consistently been the most amazing young Gonon I’ve tasted. Really open and expressive with crazy aromatics and vibrant fruit. To me, it’s harder to come up with a Gonon that would show any better than that vintage!
First time with this vintage and it felt, compared with the Les Iles Feray, a bit closed. But now that I’m reading @MaciejK post I wonder if there was a minuscule amount of TCA in that bottle.
That Weinart was a 90 so I would not be surprised if it was great. But I heard the wine changed at some point in the 21st century. Did I hear incorrectly?
There was a noticeable steer towards modernism (by Weinert standards) in the 2002 vintage, I understand that is no longer the case for the Gran Vino but the leaser cuvées are not as traditional as they used to be.
(but you know, I’m biased 
)