2016 St. Veran Lieu (Inter) Dit
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Saint-Véran Lieu (Inter)dit is also excellent, offering up a classy bouquet of peach, pastry cream and blanched almonds. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, glossy and incisive, with a compelling sense of completeness and a long, stony finish. As readers may know, this cuvée's name is a classic Guffensian pun, nodding to its origins in the lieu-dit of Côte Rôtie, a denomination prohibited by the authorities after a complaint from the winegrowers of the northern Rhône. It's supplemented by old-vine fruit from Terres Noires.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(from vines in Côte-Rôtie and Terre Noir in Davayé, with the yields averaging only 15 hectoliters per hectare due to hail; done entirely in oak, 25% new): Bright medium yellow. Apple blossom, fresh pear and spicy oak on the nose; nicely perfumed but showing more alcohol than the last (14.3%, vs. 13.8%). A fatter style of wine but with noteworthy concentration and strong spicy cut. Boasts surprising inner-mouth spicy lift and perfume, then finishes tactile, a bit phenolic and dry, with a hint of caraway seed. Needs another year in bottle to harmonize. This wine struck me as like a less concentrated version of the Guffens-Heynen Saint-Véran 1er Jus.
Mainly from a plot known as Côte Rôtie in the village of Davayé. The name is not allowed on the label for obvious reasons. Also some old vines in the Terres Noires vineyard. In both vineyards yields were tiny in 2016 due to hail. Free-run juice, barrel fermented (25% new). Seven months in barrel with regular lees stirring. Only 350 cases. Ripe and peachy on the nose, almost a note of pineapple it is so ripe and intense. Big and rich but not as taut and precise as the St-Claude, though the stony mineral character appears on the aftertaste. (JH)