Monier St. Joseph

Regarding Gripa, the pied hype-r of Seattle told me a couple of months ago that in the last few vintages a higher percentage of new barrels has been used for the levage of the St. Joseph, and that the wines are marked by it. Has anyone tasted these wines post-2004?

Regarding Monier, the only one I've tasted was the '06 St. Joseph 'Terre Blanche'. "A little thick and slow-footed" would be a rather concise description of it; I found it very ripe, low in acid and ponderously heavy.
 
originally posted by slaton:
Regarding Gripa, the pied hype-r of Seattle told me a couple of months ago that in the last few vintages a higher percentage of new barrels has been used for the levage of the St. Joseph, and that the wines are marked by it. Has anyone tasted these wines post-2004?
Yes, I've tasted 2005-6-7 in the cellar and don't remember any woodiness or noticing a lot of new wood -- and I'm sensitive to it for Syrah. Some people use more wood on whites (I don't have my notes in front of me, so I can't say if he was doing that or not), but new wood can work pretty well and unobtrusively with Marsanne/Roussane, unlike Syrah.

If your pied-hype-r is who I think he is, do you believe anything he says?
 
If this is the same guy I had at the Renaissance, I really liked the wines. Not quite Gonon, but very good. I'd check my notes, but I find it hard to care too deeply these days.
 
originally posted by VLM:
Back to Monier
If this is the same guy I had at the Renaissance, I really liked the wines. Not quite Gonon, but very good. I'd check my notes, but I find it hard to care too deeply these days.

Yeah, the guy was incredible, so WTF, Joe?

ETA: I tasted w VLM. But we, um, agreed.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

ETA: I tasted w VLM. But we, um, agreed.
Has to give you pause, doesn't it?

Mine was the Terre Blanche. Find one and see if you are fond of it. I find it very hard to believe.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
Yes, I've tasted 2005-6-7 in the cellar and don't remember any woodiness or noticing a lot of new wood -- and I'm sensitive to it for Syrah.
Aha, thanks. He was indeed speaking of the syrah.

originally posted by Claude Kolm:
If your pied-hype-r is who I think he is, do you believe anything he says?
The hyperbole is entirely geared toward the selling of product. Stretching the truth to explain why he's not selling a product would be a new one on me.
 
The special white St-Jo and St-Pray cuves at Gripa do get a fair amount of new wood. As I stated, new wood on white No. Rhnes is not necessarily troublesome.
 
I've liked du tunnel recently and I've been thoroughly ashamed of myself about it (but what can I do?). It tastes modernish and not the style I would imagine SF Joe would like. Is there an older style of the wine?
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
tunnelI've liked du tunnel recently and I've been thoroughly ashamed of myself about it (but what can I do?). It tastes modernish and not the style I would imagine SF Joe would like. Is there an older style of the wine?
Hmmm, it's been a while. Do I misremember?
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
tunnelI've liked du tunnel recently and I've been thoroughly ashamed of myself about it (but what can I do?). It tastes modernish and not the style I would imagine SF Joe would like. Is there an older style of the wine?
Hmmm, it's been a while. Do I misremember?
There is some smoothness to the tannins, which occurs ALMOST everywhere in the region these days, but he is not modernist in technique.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
tunnelI've liked du tunnel recently and I've been thoroughly ashamed of myself about it (but what can I do?). It tastes modernish and not the style I would imagine SF Joe would like. Is there an older style of the wine?
Hmmm, it's been a while. Do I misremember?
There is some smoothness to the tannins, which occurs ALMOST everywhere in the region these days, but he is not modernist in technique.

This is the guy who makes the Cornas vin noir as well? According to his rep at a tasting, he has a relatively free hand with oak and I could taste it. Like I said, I liked the wines, but they didn't taste old school to me.
 
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