Country: | France |
Regions: | Rhone Vacqueyras |
Winery: | Colline St-Jean |
Grape Type: | Grenache |
Vintage: | 2010 |
Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Cazaux Vacqueyras Rouge Cuvee Saint Roch 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre.
Deep color. Intense and persistent red fruits, such as strawberry and black cherry. Expressive and delicate at the same time. The finish is long and the tannins are quite round and well balanced.
Grapes are hand picked, destemmed 100% but not crushed. About 20 days fermentation according to vintage. Aged in stainless steel tanks for 12 months and an additional 12 months in enamel coated concrete tank. No fining, light filtration.
Enjoy this wine with meat cooked in red wine sauce (such as Boeuf Bourguignon).
Jean-Claude et Nicolas Fayolle Hermitage Rouge Donnieres is made from 100% Syrah.
Made from 40-year-old vines planted on granitic and rocky soils in the Lieu dit "Les Donnieres" at the bottom of the Hermitage's hill.
Intense inky ruby red color.
The wine has plenty to offer with red and black fruit aromas, as well as a good minerality.
The finish is very long, clean and juicy and offers a great spicy mouthfeel.
Soil is clay, silica and round pebbles.
Hand harvested in small crates. The grapes are then pumped into tanks (full cluster, not destemmed).
It will stay in this tank for 15 days for the skin contact maceration and the Alcoholic fermentation.
Tey will also use the "rack and return" technique (delestage).
Then the wine is transfered into neutral French Oak barrels where the wine will complete the Malo-Lactic fermentation.
Delicious with grilled red meat such as venison or lamb and most cheeses.
Review:
Cedar and cracked pepper notes mark the nose of the fully destemmed 2019 Hermitage les Dionnieres, backed by ripe blueberries and black cherries. Smooth, ripe and creamy in feel, this full-bodied yet supple Hermitage looks to be a top-flight effort. With the concentration and balance evidenced on the long, silky finish, it's delicious now and should still be going strong well into the next decade.
-Wine Advocate 94 Points
"Glass-staining violet. Deeply pitched black and blue fruit, licorice and floral pastille scents are sharpened by a spicy cracked pepper flourish. Youthfully chewy and focused on the palate, offering ripe blackcurrant, bitter cherry and fruitcake flavors that take on a mineral nuance on the back half. Closes on a resonating blue fruit note, with a solid punch and chewy tannins framing a long, spice- and smoke-accented finish. All whole clusters. - Josh Raynolds"
- Antonio Galloni's Vinous (December 2022), 94 pts
Jean-Claude et Nicolas Fayolle Hermitage Rouge Donnieres is made from 100% Syrah.
Made from 40-year-old vines planted on granitic and rocky soils in the Lieu dit "Les Donnieres" at the bottom of the Hermitage's hill.
Intense inky ruby red color.
The wine has plenty to offer with red and black fruit aromas, as well as a good minerality.
The finish is very long, clean and juicy and offers a great spicy mouthfeel.
Soil is clay, silica and round pebbles.
Hand harvested in small crates. The grapes are then pumped into tanks (full cluster, not destemmed).
It will stay in this tank for 15 days for the skin contact maceration and the Alcoholic fermentation.
Tey will also use the "rack and return" technique (delestage).
Then the wine is transfered into neutral French Oak barrels where the wine will complete the Malo-Lactic fermentation.
Delicious with grilled red meat such as venison or lamb and most cheeses.
Clos Saint-Jean Chateauneuf Du Pape Vieilles Vignes is made from a Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Vaccarèse and Muscardin, the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is made from old vines located in and around Le Crau. The Grenache is aged in concrete for 12 months while the remainder is aged in demi-muid.
Review:
A bigger, richer wine, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Vieilles Vignes has a similar style in its peppery garrigue, lavender, scorched earth, and licorice aromatics. It’s slightly darker fruited than the base cuvée and has a rock star of a mid-palate, building, sweet tannins, and a great finish. It’s one stunning bottle of wine to drink over the coming 10-15 years.
-Jeb Dunnuck 95 Points
Rich and seductive in style, featuring waves of warmed plum sauce and blackberry purée flavors laced with singed alder, licorice root and tobacco notes, with flashes of ganache and warm earth in the background. Everything stays well-defined through the finish, which offers a late echo of minerality. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Vaccarèse and Muscardin.
- Wine Spectator 95 Points
Clos Saint-Jean Chateauneuf Du Pape Vieilles Vignes is made from a Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsault, Vaccarèse and Muscardin, the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is made from old vines located in and around Le Crau. The Grenache is aged in concrete for 12 months while the remainder is aged in demi-muid.
Review:
A smaller selection from older vines from La Crau, the 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Vieilles Vignes is a clear step up. Both red and black fruits, spring flowers, black licorice, and rocky, mineral notes merge from the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a layered, silky mouthfeel and beautiful tannins.
-Jeb Dunnuck 92-94 Points
Clos Saint-Jean is a 41-hectare estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape run by brothers Vincent and Pascal Maurel. Considered by many critics and wine-writers as the preeminent estate espousing the modern style of winemaking in Châteauneuf, this cellar is one of the oldest in the region, having been founded in 1900 by the greatgreat-grandfather of Vincent and Pascal, Edmund Tacussel. A short time after its founding and well before the AOP of Chateauneuf-du-Pape was created in 1923, Edmund began bottling estate wines in 1910.
The farming at Clos Saint-Jean is fully sustainable due to the warm and dry climate, which prevents the need for chemical inputs. Instead, Vincent and Pascal employ organic methods for pest control, mainly pheromones, to prevent pests from taking up residence in their vines, a process called amusingly enough in French, confusion sexuelle. The vines tended manually, and harvest is conducted in several passes entirely by hand.
Combe des Fous literally means, the hill of the fool. The hill, in this case, is located in the far southern reach of Le Crau which was left barren for many centuries because the layer of galets was so exceedingly deep that everyone assumed vines could never survive there. The fool in this situation is Edmund Tacussel, the great-great-grandfather of Vincent and Pascal Maruel who planted a Grenache vineyard on this site in 1905. That old-vine Grenache form the heart of this cuvée with a small amount of Syrah, Cinsault and Vaccarèse. La Combe des Fous is only made in the best vintages.
Review:
Pumps out heady raspberry, mulberry and blackberry compote notes that keep form and direction, thanks to a roasted apple wood spine and flanking ganache, garrigue and warm earth notes. Seriously grippy finish. Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault and Vaccarèse.
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape La Combe Des Fous is a normal blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and the rest Vaccarèse and Cinsault. Beautiful, full-bodied aromas and flavors of ripe black raspberries, violets, ground pepper, lavender, and herbes de Provence all emerge from this gorgeous barrel sample, and it shows the pure, fresh, yet still concentrated style of the vintage brilliantly.
-Jeb Dunnuck 94-97 Points
Colline Saint Jean Vacqueyras Rouge 2010 is made from 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre.
Harvested by hand.
Traditional vinification.
Skin-contact maceration for 20 days in cement vats.
Ageing: 70% in cement vats and 30% in oak barrels.
Dense ruby/purple color as well as an impressive bouquet of red and black fruits (cherry, raspberry, black currant), licorice, garrigue and pepper.
The wine is dense, full-bodied, opulent and impressively endowed with sweet, well-integrated tannins.
Pairs well with red meat, white meat, game dishes in macerate sauce and cheese.
"This family owned estate, currently run by Roland Alazard and his son, is composed of 35-hectare of vines located in Vin de Pays du Vaucluse, Cotes-du-Rhône, Vacqueyras, Gigondas and Beaumes de Venise. While they produce a number of cuvees, I was only able to taste their straight Vacqueyras for this report, and I have to say, I came away more than a little impressed as the wine showed uncommon finesses and elegance paired with serious concentration. I'm a fan and this is certainly a producer worth having on your radar screen.
A gorgeous Vacqueyras that's a blend of 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre aged 70% in cement tank and 30% in barrique, the 2010 Domaine de la Colline Saint Jean Vacqueyras is exotic and perfumed, yielding creamy blackberry, raspberry, lavender, spring flowers, and green peppercorn aromatics that soar from the glass. Beautifully complex and nuanced, with a full-bodied, polished texture, impeccable balance, and an overall fresh, yet decadently rich profile, this knockout 2010 should be purchased by the cases, and consumed over the coming decade. Brilliant stuff and this screaming value is well worth the effort to track down."
- Jeb Dunnuck's Rhone Report (Issue#11, March 2012), 93 pts
"This wine is a blend of 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 5% Mourvedre sourced from a 14 hectares of 50 year old vines on soils of clay and limestone. The fruit was fermented with indigenous yeasts in cement vats before aging in 70% cement vat and 30% used oak barrels. Alcohol 14%. The medium strength nose reveals young pure fruit with a powerful pepper note and eventually blueberry jam. In the mouth the pepper fruit shines through as the wine puts on complexity in to the aftertaste. There are strong, fine+ drying tannins and sweet spices. On the second night the wine remains young with an added graphite note to the blueberry fruit, a racy aspect, and a dark note in the aftertaste. There is prominent structure to this modern styled wine. 2017-2025."
- Hogshead Wine Blog (September 4th 2012), ***(*)
"Plump and fleshy, with layers of linzer torte, currant confiture and cherry preserves laced with toasted anise and backed by a long, graphite-filled finish. Offers nice grip. Drink now through 2017. 5,000 cases made. –JM"
- Wine Spectator (July 31st 2012), 90 pts
The Domaine St-Jean Estate
Located in the middle of the Cotes du Rhone, in the village of Vacqueyras, at the foot of Dentelles de Montmirail, Domaine de La Colline St. Jean has been a family-owned property for several generations.
The Domaine St-Jean Vineyard
They have 35 ha of vineyards in Vin de Pays du Vaucluse, Côtes-du-Rhône, Vacqueyras, Gigondas and Beaumes de Venise. Roland Alazard and his son preserve the character and the traditions of wine producers in their Cotes-du-Rhone wines. The hillside vineyards are heated by the sun giving the resulting wine a generous crimson robe, complex flavors and a delicate roundness on the palate.
Vacqueyras AOC represent 1,690 hectares (4,191 acres), of which only 1,300 hectares (3,224 acres) are planted with vines.
Total production for the entire Vacqueyras AOC is roughly 42,775 hectoliters (474,089 twelve-bottle-case equivalent).
Made from 50% chenin blanc and 50% chardonnay
It is an interesting experience as a sparkling wine for people who want to have a fine and elegant wine comparable to Champagne for a very good price.
This methode traditionnelle sparkling wine is aged for minimum 18-24 months in cave before disgorging. The dosage is 12 g/l residual sugar and the wine is aged for minimum 3 months after disgorging .
Review:
"The two sparkling wines should not be missed. They're both terrific examples of how good sparkling Vouvray can be. Both are 100% Chenin Blanc cuvees. Even better is the slightly richer, more honey and lemon-scented and flavored non-vintage Cremant de Loire. A blend of equal parts Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay aged for a minimum of 18 to 24 months in their cellars before disgorgement, this is a real beauty and a superb wine. Unfortunately, just under 100 cases are imported to the United States." -Wine Advocate 92 pts
Long Shadows Pirouette Meritage is made from 68% Cabernet Sauvignon 15% Merlot 8% Petit Verdot 6% Cabernet Franc 3% Malbec
Philippe Melka, named one of the top nine winemakers in the world by Robert Parker, used small lots from Washington State's finest vineyards to craft this enticing red blend.
Like the last several growing seasons, 2016 was another hot year that required extra care in the vineyards. Building on the success of our canopy managment program over the last few vintages, we worked with growers throughout the season to encourage growth of the canes and outside foliage to protect against the sun while opening up the fruit zone for even maturation. Warm temperatures in the fall hastened ripening, but the Columbia Valley's cool autumn nights protected the grapes' acidity, yielding bright, vibrant wines that will drink well in their youth but also promise to bring enjoyement to those who cellar.
A variety of fermentation methods were used to enhance complexity and richness in this classic Bordeaux blend. Hand-harvested Cabernet was fermented in 400L French oak barrels that were gently rolled throughout fermentation to integrate the oak with refined, dark fruit flavors and give the wine its silky mouthfeel. All other varieties were fermented in traditional stainless steel tanks, with select lots enjoying longer skin contact to enhance the wine's dark color and mid-palate. The finished wine was aged 22 months in French oak barrels (75% new) before bottling unfiltered and unfined.
Review:
"The 2016 Pirouette is made by Philippe Melka and it's a total blockbuster based on 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and the palate Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec that was fermented in barrel and aged 22 months in 75% new oak. Crème de cassis, blackberries, toasted spices, cedar, and forest floor notes all emerge from this deep, rich, opulent red that has sweet tannins, a thrilling texture, no hard edges, and a monster finish. This is another best-to-date from this estate and it's an awesome wine." -Jeb Dunnuck 97 Points
Lismore Estate Reserve Viognier is made from 100 percent Viognier.
This a Greyton WO.
Balance is the key to this wine. Viognier is an aromatic and generous varietal, it benefits from barrel maturation and lees contact with a fuller mouth feel and increased texture. This combined with the firm acid backbone and intense fruit will allow this wine to integrate beautifully and gain further complexity over the next 3-5 years.
Rich, lush and decadent. Viognier is a gorgeous variety. Honeysuckle, peaches and dried apricot with a lingering citrus finish. A clean fresh acidity supports the extravagance of the nose and the palate.
Viognier, a traditional Rhone variety is perfectly suited to Lismore’s cool-climate terrior. The vineyard block is on decomposed shale and one of the healthiest and well balanced on the farm. The entire team looks forward to the Viognier harvest and the beautiful amber tinged berries.
The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness and whole bunch pressed, slowly extracting the juice at a rate of 500ltrs per ton. The juice was settled for 48 hours and was racked into burgundian barriques (1st fill) for fermentation and maturation. The wine was left on the lees with regular “batonnage” for 11 months.
Lighter styles are often paired with curries and the like. This Viognier is different. We recommend medium bodied meals that are intense and complex. For example:
- Sesame encrusted tuna marinated in a blend of orange, lemon and lime juice spiced with sesame oil and balsamic vinegar – seared on a wood fired grill and served with griddled vegetables, or
- Free range duck breast smoked with Darjeeling tea and coriander leaves. Set on a cinnamon poached pear glazed with a gooseberry jus.
In both of these dishes, the fruit and floral aspects of the wine are complimented by the exotic and aromatic elements in the dish which are also highlighted by the spiciness from the oak fermentation; the fresh acidity freshens the palate, and yet the Lismore Viognier has the body to hold up against the weight of the duck or the tuna. It is also gorgeous with a well laid cheese platter.