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Domaine Blachon, Saint-Joseph, Cuvée Tradition

Northern Rhône, France 2014 (750mL)
$28.00
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Domaine Blachon, Saint-Joseph, Cuvée Tradition

When Northern Rhône Syrah is really singing, it ranks among the most aromatically complex red wines in the world. Syrah tends to get typecast as big and meaty, and it can be – like Barossa or Napa – but it is also capable of perfumed elegance, the kind we instinctively associate with Pinot Noir or Nebbiolo.
This is an old-school Saint-Joseph that showcases Syrah at its most graceful, transcending its somewhat ‘second-tier’ appellation into a Grand Cru performance in the process. Sourced from vineyards in Mauves, right next door to Domaine Gonon (arguably the most important commune in the AOC), Domaine Blachon’s ‘Tradition’ is truly exceptional Saint-Joseph at an everyday price.
Because Saint-Joseph is a rather large area in comparison to Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage, there’s not only significantly more of it out there but a more variable quality spectrum. Experts agree that most of the best vineyards are in the three villages that comprise the historic heart of the appellation: Mauves, Tournon, and Saint Jean de Muzol, all of which lay on granite soils. Mauves, in particular, has been made famous by big names like Pierre Gonon and Raymond Trollat. But the Blachon family quietly working right alongside them, in relative obscurity – although Roger Blachon took over his family’s vines in 1970, they were primarily growers, not bottlers, and the wines didn’t see much commercial distribution until the 1980s. And only more recently still (i.e. the last few years) have the Blachon wines found their way to the US market, as Roger’s children, Delphine and Sylvain, have taken over the reins of the winery (Roger, sadly, passed away suddenly in 2006).

The 2014 ‘Tradition’ is true to its name: it is a traditionally made, cement-fermented Syrah with an appealing hint of rusticity. It comes from four named vineyard sites in Mauves: ‘Le Paradis,’ ‘Charpente,’ ‘La Fraicheur,’ and the family’s monopole, ‘Les Côtes Saint-Joseph’ (which is home to the oldest vines). These are south/southeast-facing, organically farmed sites on decomposed granite and marl, with an average vine age of 30 years. Each vineyard plot is vinified separately in cement, and about 80 percent of the fruit is destemmed. The wine is racked into 3- to 5-year-old, 400-liter barrels, where it rests for 15 months before it is bottled.

The first word that comes to mind with this wine is ‘charming.’ It is obviously bigger and meatier than a Pinot Noir, but it has a similar high-toned energy – as well as some of the stony, savory notes you find in the best cru Beaujolais (Foillard, Lapierre, etc. ). Typically Syrah is on the black/purple spectrum, and there’s some of that classic Syrah blackberry and lavender in evidence, but I found as much red fruit here as black: pomegranate, cherry blossom, currant, and then a zippy hit of white pepper and wild herbs. It’s evocative of the steep, Syrah-strewn terraces of the northern Rhône – easily one of the most beautiful sights to behold in the whole world of wine.

There are some pleasantly dusty tannins here, but overall this wine drinks well right out of the bottle. A half-hour or so in a decanter will bring out its seductive aromatics, which demand you serve it in a nice Burgundy-style balloon. A temperature of about 60 degrees would be ideal, and man oh man does this have a great affinity for food (it really leads with savory). For me, a slow-roasted leg of lamb, with lots of aromatics, is the way to go here. At this price-to-quality, this wine is a lock; it is a prime candidate for long-term aging. The true peak of this wine is 7-8 years away, so I would highly advise putting at least six bottles away and forget about them.

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Country
France
Region
Northern Rhône
Sub-Region
FranceSaint-Joseph
Soil
Granite
Farming
Organic
Blend
Syrah
Alcohol
13.5
OAK
Neutral

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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