For much of our careers, as soon as the weather turned autumnal, we reached for a bottle like Vincent and Alexandre Cluzel’s Saint-Joseph. It’s textbook Northern Rhône Syrah: gamey, spice-laden and structured, yet lifted and accessible. But as prices in the region have gone almost as haywire as in Burgundy, we haven’t been able to pop bottles like this quite as often as we’d like. Cluzel’s bottling, then, might be thought of as a corrective to all that. Despite hailing from some of the appellation’s most prized hillside vineyards, despite being ready for immediate drinking or long-term aging, it’s somehow priced friendly enough to be a weekend bottle rather than a once-a-year occasion. Northern Rhône Syrah this good that’s this affordable is becoming very hard to find these days indeed. We’ll lament it when it happens, but we’ve no doubt that one day soon the Cluzel brothers’ wines will be priced like their neighbors’. So do like us and load up while you still can!
The Cluzel family has farmed vines in the Northern Rhône for decades. Vincent Cluzel struck out on his own, though, in 2004. From the beginning, he’s been a farmer first; he originally just grew his Syrah and Viognier, then sold the fruit to local negociants. Then in 2013, he decided to begin vinifying his own wine, and produced a measly 500 cases. He already had a wealth of winemaking experience, having worked for years under local legend Yves Cuilleron, so his first wines garnered immediate attention. In 2017, Vincent’s brother Alexandre joined the estate and they’ve since managed to cobble together an enviable array of holdings in Condrieu, Saint-Joseph, and Côte-Rôtie. Both of the brothers bring a thoughtful and technically-skilled eye to the winery, having studied winemaking in Beaune. But they stick to the old way of doing things; that means sustainable farming, hand harvesting, and spontaneous fermentation.
The Cluzel brothers’ winery, as well as their key Saint-Joseph vineyards, are located in the village of Chavanay. Saint-Joseph tends to get talked about as a single stylistic monolith, but the truth is it’s an extremely varied appellation. Chavanay produces some of the prettiest and most elegant wines in Saint-Joseph. Really, that’s no surprise; the village is a stone’s throw from Côte-Rôtie, the appellation in the Northern Rhône most prized for its delicacy and lift (and speaking of, stay tuned for a bonus offer from this hallowed terroir in a few!). Like Côte-Rôtie, the soils in Chavanay are a mix of gneiss, sand and granite, and are terraced along steep hillsides. Much of Saint-Joseph is flat and easy to work with machines, but the best vineyards – like the Cluzels’ in Chavanay – are so steep as to be workable only by hand. It’s yet another factor that makes the affordability of today’s wine so shocking.
The 2021 Saint-Joseph from Vincent and Alexandre Cluzel was hand-picked and partially destemmed. It fermented for three weeks in stainless steel tanks before moving to neutral barrel for malolactic and a year of aging. It pours a deep ruby with hints of purple, and the nose is just pure Syrah pleasure–crushed blackberries, raspberry liqueuer, dark cherry pit, violets, lavender, bacon fat, black pepper, smoke, cured olives, and scrubby herbs. There’s certainly power to the palate, with the dark purple fruits and high-tone spice equally emphasized, but it’s also supremely elegant. Thanks to a cool vintage, and the impeccably farmed sites the Cluzel brothers work, there’s a sense of energy and freshness that feels distinctly Côte-Rôtie-esque. It all makes for a bottle perfect for a special dinner (say, maybe one featuring turkey and mashed potatoes) or some simply prepared steak or lamb. It also makes for a very promising future over the next five to ten years in your cellar. Get it while it lasts!
