TN: 2006 Dard & Ribo Saint-Joseph

S

Sharon Bowman

Sharon Bowman
Curiosity has been killing me ever since one person I know started enthusing wildly about D&R and another person reviling their wines. I had to break through the discursive stalemate and just pour something, already.

Picked this up last week upon recommendation from a caviste vs. their other cuves. Opened it yesterday.

What a weird wine! It comes on all fruity, like fresh grape juice, as though it had somehow skipped the fermentation part of becoming wine. It then fantails into a great pomegranate or other sour piquancy. It's actually fairly silky and long, and as it plays out on the palate, it shows a shockingly direct terroir I can only say really does remind me of its appellation. This is not Syrah from the neighboring commune.

No idea how this will age; will it become more winey? Will it wash out?

At moments I thought it was gross. Then I liked it again.

I loved it and hated it, which means, at least, that both my friends are right.
 
on D&R, but what do you expect. They say not to age the wines although I've found that it can often take the edge off the fruitiness slightly - say 3-5 years? I haven't had any really old ones past 5 years so I won't venture to guess what they might turn out like beyond that time frame.
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Crozes.
Click to expand...

Aha. I've never pinpointed St. Joseph characteristics vs. Crozes characteristics and pretty much figured that there was more geographic variation within each appellation along with producer style variation that took me further towards understanding the wines than a 'St. Joe' vs. 'Crozes' comparison. But, I never really tried so perhaps I should.
 
We had the Saint-Joseph served blind when a few of us got together at Terroir in San Francisco and I didn't recognize it as syrah. The one I tried, I think it was 2005, I didn't like.
I love the Crozes-Hermitage.
Someone, maybe at Terroir or at my local wine store, said it's meant to be consumed young, that it's not really an ager.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Aha. I've never pinpointed St. Joseph characteristics vs. Crozes characteristics and pretty much figured that there was more geographic variation within each appellation along with producer style variation that took me further towards understanding the wines than a 'St. Joe' vs. 'Crozes' comparison. But, I never really tried so perhaps I should.
Click to expand...
I think many St-Joseph wines could be picked out of a lineup. Not true for Crozes, which is so much larger and varied.
 
originally posted by SteveTimko:

I love the Crozes-Hermitage.
Click to expand...

I tend to appreciate the Crozes more as well. I especially enjoy the super young Printemps bottling. The '07 is simply yummy right now, dare I say slurpable?
 
My personal experience is that I do like the wines (their red wines, at least) but they are not "typical". If your expectations are for something like Chave Estate St. Joseph, Graillot, or Gaillard's St. Joes, you will be surprised and maybe not favorably.

Will I buy cases to lay down? No way. Will I buy a bottle to drink every time I'm in a place with their wines on the list where I can be pretty sure of the storage conditions? Sure.

The last bottle I had (2006 Crozes) was very interesting and tasty on the first day but apparently degenerated into a "science experiment" the next day. So open a bottle when you want to finish it, or keep it in the refrigerator, I guess.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Rahsaan:
Aha. I've never pinpointed St. Joseph characteristics vs. Crozes characteristics and pretty much figured that there was more geographic variation within each appellation along with producer style variation that took me further towards understanding the wines than a 'St. Joe' vs. 'Crozes' comparison. But, I never really tried so perhaps I should.
Click to expand...
I think many St-Joseph wines could be picked out of a lineup. Not true for Crozes, which is so much larger and varied.
Click to expand...
Not so. Saint-Joseph is large and varied appellation that rightly should be split into several parts. It ranges from up by Cte-Rtie (where the best reds to bear a resemblance to Cte-Rtie) to a wide area in the middle where people are only beginning to try to make good wine (the local coop had long dominated and I think that's where Jaboulet's vines are, too), to the traditional core St-Joseph cetered around St-Jean-de-Muzols, Tournon, and Mauves, to an area further south where there can be surprising resemblance to Cornas. The soils, expositions, altitudes, etc. vary greatly, and so do the resulting wines. At its best, Saint-Joseph is sleeker, racier, more mineral than Crozes and better than any Crozes except for Thalabert at its best and maybe one or two others. But much of St-Joseph is nothing more than Ctes-du-Rhne quality (as is the case with most of Crozes).
 
Probably Allemand's, for a start. Is Barret's "Brise Cailloux" a CdR or a St. Joe? I believe it's from just north of Cornas.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
You can pick up some of the spiciness and smooth texture in St-Jos from the likes of Faurie, Barge, and Perret.
Click to expand...

I'd also say that the Cote-Rotie and Saint-Joseph from Phillipe Faury share at least a kinship in style, although the Cote-Rotie is bigger, more complex and probably more ageable.
 
originally posted by Marshall Manning:
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
You can pick up some of the spiciness and smooth texture in St-Jos from the likes of Faurie, Barge, and Perret.
Click to expand...

I'd also say that the Cote-Rotie and Saint-Joseph from Phillipe Faury share at least a kinship in style, although the Cote-Rotie is bigger, more complex and probably more ageable.
Click to expand...
Ooops! You caught me mixing up Faurie and Faury, Marshall. I meant to say Faury. Bernard Faurie has classic Tournon St-Jo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top