2016 St Joseph Les Granits Blanc

Moving to the 2016s, the 2016 Saint Joseph Les Granits Blanc is beautiful, with lots of citrus blossom, crushed rock, tangerine, turmeric, and liquid rock-like minerality. With an almost Coche-Dury-like reductive quality, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, beautiful purity and freshness, nicely integrated acidity, and a great finish. This 100% Marsanne was brought up in 15% demi-muids and is a balanced, elegant effort to drink over the coming 10-15 years. The estate of firebrand Michel Chapoutier continues to operate on all cylinders, and these latest 2016 and 2017 releases are world class for this address. The 2017 whites show the gradual change toward a more reductive style of winemaking, and the wines at times have an almost Burgundian feel in their minerality, acidity, and texture. Nevertheless, they’re fabulously concentrated and rich and will need 2-4 years of cellaring. The 2016 whites showed beautifully, and I prefer those to the 2017s. The majority of the 2017 reds were tasted as barrel samples. This is a ripe, sexy, expressive vintage for the Northern Rhône, and this shows in the wines. The 2017s don’t appear to have the density of the more blockbuster styled 2015s, yet they have expressive, sunny characters that will deliver loads of charm. The 2016s having slightly more density and cooler-climate styled aromatics, yet are nevertheless some of the richest, sexiest wines in the vintage. In addition to the frightfully expensive top-tier cuvées, don’t miss the value releases from this estate. These wines max out the QPR scale and are great introductions into the wines of Chapoutier as well as the Rhône Valley.