More Northern Rhone TNs (Barge, Clos de la Bonnette) -- 2/2/24

I have tried two 2021 Saint-Josephs that match that description, Claude. My notes were:

2021 André Perret Saint-Joseph
Hard, dull, and unyielding on pnp - just not terribly pleasant. Maybe it needs some time to show better? I'm not going to try. Apparently this was chaptalized from 11.5% to 12.5% (per JLL).

2021 Domaine des Amphores St. Joseph Les 7 Lieux
Not a particularly pleasant bottle of wine, at least at this juncture. Very stern and stemmy, with not enough fruit or body to compensate.

Having skimmed more through JLL's site, I took the impression that the 2021 vintage in Saint-Joseph was especially challenging.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Impatiently waiting for the Prof to take exception to the use of hedonistic.
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I meant “hedonistic” with scare quotes. The wine term of art which has a very negative connotation nowadays (which is to say a wine that may be perceived as overripe, low acid, and too fruit forward)

Leaving this note just in case the irony in which I used the term “hedonistic” was missed or wasn’t clear.
 
Consider yourself properly chastised by Oswaldo. I've been traveling and missed it the first time. Context doesn't make any irony in the usage clear. Maybe you needed the scare quotes. Or better, we need a word like pointsy for a wine in the style of one that garners big points from critics who give big points. Or, how about calling a wine that Parker would have called hedonistic "hedy," as in heady, also as in Lamarr.
 
I back Yule on this one. I got it. I would only use hedonistic with respect to wine in the sense he did given how much I despise that term.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Consider yourself properly chastised by Oswaldo. I've been traveling and missed it the first time. Context doesn't make any irony in the usage clear. Maybe you needed the scare quotes. Or better, we need a word like pointsy for a wine in the style of one that garners big points from critics who give big points. About calling a wine that Parker would have called hedonistic "hedy," as in heady, also as in Lamarr.
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Or hedly, as in Blazing Saddles.

Ironically yours,
Mark Lipton
 
Just consider it. "It's a very next wine for those who like such things." And could be taken to be pronounced as heedy as well as heady, and since this would a!ways be in writing, the different pronunciations would only be heard in the mind and never actually specifically in print, so you could have all those meanings simultaneously. Irony doesn't hold a candle to it.I
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
Maybe not hedonistic for civilians, but perhaps a hedonistic wine for the disorderly.
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Fixed it. Moving along.

In other news, there seems to be a little bit of a pile-on brewing against the '21 Jamet at the other place.

I'm actually kind of curious on what people's opinions about it will be. The one take that was posted was there wasn't ripeness issues, but one of the weaker young Jamets he's had.
 
Stopped by a local shop after having brunch with a friend. Ended up getting a '19 St. Joseph to support the shop and these tastings.

2021 Pierre Gonon Chasselas: Bright, refreshing, green apple and pear notes on the palate. A little roundness and oiliness, but pretty good acidity. I didn’t detect any oak on the palate. Not the most complex or interesting wine, but pretty good.

2021 Pierre Gonon Ardèche Les Iles Feray: Feels open-knit and generous right now. Loads of bright, bramby fruit on the nose with floral aromatics. Fruit feels brighter and redder than the ‘20s and ‘19s, a little less mineral and concentrated than the St. Josephs, but very pure, very elegant, and zippy acidity. Delicious.

2020 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph: This still feels relatively open. Definitely from a solar vintage: the fruit is dense and dark, but there is wonderful acidity that is mouthwatering and refreshes the palate. The tannins feel ripe, gentle, and are not particularly astringent. Lively and energetic. Very good.

2019 Pierre Gonon Ardèche Les Iles Feray: Fairly dense and ripe, if lighter-bodied and less structured than the St. Joseph. Still elegant, good acidity, but it feels like it’s getting a little shut down; definitely not as open and generous as the ‘21.

2019 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph: This seems quite tightly clenched at the moment. On the nose, there is dense, ripe, fruit aromas and floral notes. Perhaps a touch lactic. The palate is equally dark-fruited and quite stony, with racy acidity and a velvety tannins on the finish, leaving a hint of astringency on the palate. But, this seems very closed and unforgiving right now, though there is a lot of stuffing. I would give this 5-10 years in the cellar to unwind, but there is a lot of potential.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Impressive, Yule. I figured all the Gonon SJ was allocated by now.
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The shop owner told us he kept his allocation of '19 and '20 Gonon Saint Josephs in his cellar and decided to sell a couple that day (I think he only had three bottles of each cuvee for sale and we were only allowed to buy one bottle each; he's only allocated a case per year). It's a fun store, but it definitely has more of a neighborhood wine shop vibe than a more-scaled-up retailer like Chambers Street or Flatiron with their huge mailing lists and customer base.

With respect to allocations in general, I'm not sure how big of a thing that is out here on the West Coast. I hear that Gonon and Falkenstein (and other wines) are highly allocated out East, but I receive email offers from West Coast retailers for these wines that seem to be sent to everyone. I'm pretty sure I'm not on any special lists (and the offers are accessible to anyone who searches the merchants' websites).

It may be there is not as much of a customer base out here that covets these wines.
 
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