Description
Saint Joseph was originally called “Vin de Tournon”. The monks who lived in this little village used to produce wine from the vineyard at the top of the hill behind the village.
Terroir
The terroir in Saint Joseph is mainly composed of granite. The vineyard spreads out 40km along the right bank of the Rhône river. For our fist vintage we wanted to make a balanced wine using grapes from the north of the appellation, which bring minerality and fruit, and ones from the historical centre of Saint Joseph that give more flesh to the wine. The blending makes wines with great distinction and extremely balanced.
The vintage
2008 was a difficult vintage due to the temperamental weather. The flowering had already given signs of a small crop. After and average summer temperature-wise, violent storms broke out over the weekend of September 6th and 7th. Thereafter, cool nights and sunny days along with the Mistral privileged the end of the cycle up to harvest. This milder weather helped limit the impact of the rain and had a positive effect on the general sanitary state of the vineyard. Harvest started quite late, towards the 25th September and ended beginning of October. This difficult year required a lot of sorting in the vineyard and in the cellar.
Location
In the north of the appellation, the villages of St Pierre de Boeuf and Chavanay.
For the historical centre of the appellation, the village of Mauves south of Tournon.
Process
The grapes are cold-macerated before being fermented to increase the aromas of fruit. Maceration and fermentation for about 20 days with pumping-over for the first few days followed by punching-down. Ageing in 1 and 2 year old barrels for 10 months to bring concentration to the wine.
Varietal
Syrah : 100%
Tasting
Intense and rich on notes of wild fruit. The mouth is complex with soft tannins. This wine is powerful and has a distinctive elegance to it. To drink straight away or in the next 3 years.
Serving
Serve at 17°C on grilled meats or small game or why not try it with Pigeon ?
Reviews
"Their adventure should have been called “Jaboulet-Perrin” or “Beaucastel-La Chapelle” but when the family business is sold by one of the partners and bans them to use their patronymic, they came up with “Maison Nicolas Perrin”. This young negociant company is therefore the partnership between two major heirs : Nicolas Jaboulet (ex Director of Maison Paul Jaboulet & Fils) and Marc Perrin (Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf du Pape). In 2008 these two men from the Rhône Valley get together to mature and sell wine. Their mission is to locate quality plots of Syrah, create partnerships with the winegrowers and follow the winemaking process. The wine is barrelled at the winegrowers and then blended and aged in the Perrin cellars near Orange. Marc blends and Nicolas manages the sales and administration. They are very selective and only work with a dozen of barrels (35 000 bottles in 2010). Bring on the next selections !"
La Revue du Vin de France, A. Gerbelle - 2011