A great deal of global attention from collectors, sommeliers, and journalists has descended in recent years on the village of Saint-Jean de Muzols. After all, it’s one of the key villages of the Saint-Joseph appellation, and wines from here now regularly command triple-digit price tags. Yet it somehow still feels largely the same as it must have two centuries ago. Buildings constructed from the local granite line dusty streets, and beneath many of the homes you’ll find old cellars with low ceilings, just enough room to ferment and age the miniscule yields from nearby vines.

Philippe Desbos is the third generation of his family to work the hillside vines of Saint-jean de Muzols. He and his wife Sylvie farm a handful of sites that’d be the envy of any Syrah producer: the youngest vines here, clinging to hillsides of decomposed granite, are fifty years old. The plant material is ancient, unidentified clones, and the vineyards are steep enough that only humans and horses can work them. In the cellar, the only modern accoutrement is overhead lighting. Fermentations take place in old wooden casks, and punchdowns are done entirely by hand and foot. The finished wines are pressed in an ancient vertical basket press, and they rest for years in very old oak barrels. The result is simple but profound: a vinous encapsulation of some of the Rhône Valley’s best terroir.

Why You’ll Love It

• There are zero bells and whistles in Gouye’s Saint-Joiseph “Vielles Vignes,” and it’s all the better for it. From vines planted in 1955-1975, made entirely by hand, and aged in barrels procured from none other than Jean-Louis Chave, this is Saint-Joseph in all its unvarnished glory.

• The nose is a masterclass in Syrah’s beauty – blackcurrant, blackberry, purple plums, black cherry fruit commingles with white pepper, kalamata olives, tobacco, violets, lavender, and unmistakable sanguine earthiness. It feels like wine squeezed from stone.

• On the palate, it’s medium-full, the warmth of the Rhône hillsides evident in its ample texture and deep purple fruit tones. Rumbling with Mediterranean herbs and a lick of vibrant acidity, the texture is already elegant and composed. But there’s enough of a tannic presence to indicate this will reward aging for at least a decade.

• Northern Rhône wines produced at this miniscule scale, with such artisanal care, are hard to come by at all. At today’s sub-$50 price, they’re basically unheard of.

How To Enjoy It

• This is stunning now, but don’t hesitate to lay a few away for the next five to ten years.

• Serve just above cellar temperature, around 65 degrees, in Bordeaux glasses.

• Keep the food here simple and honest here, just as they would in Saint-Joseph. Rosemary-crusted lamb chops would be beautiful alongside a bottle of Gouye.