// Resident Wine Expert
At the low end, Saint-Joseph can be relatively light and can be seen as more of a quaffing wine, often found as the 'house wine' in many Lyon cafés, but at its best...oh my…it can rival the wines of its more prestigious neighbours, usually at a fraction of the price and comes from the steep, terraced vineyards which are found tucked away between the flat vineyards alongside the Rhône and the plateau just above. These better vineyards have much more in common with Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage.
Wine is often said to be a reflection of its terroir and in the case of Saint- Joseph, the terroir consists in part of a thin, low- yielding soil that barely covers the tough, granite banks of the Rhône. Making wine here is hard work and expensive.
Years ago, making wine from smaller, more select areas as above, was just not profitable for many producers in Saint- Joseph and, as a result, many of the terraces were abandoned, but in more recent times, as we wine drinkers come to enjoy both the tangible and the perhaps more hidden benefits of all the hours spent in the vineyard, the terraces are being rebuilt.
Cave de Saint-Désirat is a co-operative that makes wine from the grapes of around 250 growers; they have also spent the past few decades replanting one of the most spectacularly sited Saint-Joseph vineyards, Rochevine, near the village that gives the winery its name. It now produces superb single- vineyard Saint-Joseph from Rochevine, proving that co-operatives – often looked down on or snubbed by 'connoisseurs – can also produce luxury wines.
Other good sources of Saint-Joseph are the big merchant houses of the northern Rhône, including Guigal (a particular favourite of mine), Chapoutier and Delas, all of which tend to produce several quality levels of wine from the appellation. The top cuvées from these merchants' own vineyards, for example, Delas' Sainte-Epine, Chapoutier's Les Granits and Guigal's Vignes de l'Hospice, are, quite rightly, often considered to be some of the greatest wines of the Rhône, though to be fair, the prices reflect this.
Among the smaller growers, look for names like Coursodon, Durand, Andre Perret, Aurelien Chatagnier and Bernard Gripa. Coursodon, in particular, is considered an ambassador for Saint-Joseph, making wine only from this appellation, wine that routinely rivals the best of Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage.
It is true that many of the best Saint-Joseph wines seem to come from the southern end of the area, around the original vineyard parcel that gave the appellation its name and also around the towns of Tournon and Mauves. Coursodon, Guigal, Chapoutier and others all have vines here, however there are other small areas of excellence further north, including around the village of Malleval, where Pierre Gaillard is based. The wines of southern Saint-Joseph tend to be more structured and per- haps a little hard if drunk too young. Gaillard prefers to make his wine in a fruitier, more approachable style. His white
Saint-Joseph is made entirely from Rousanne, which results in a more floral and honeyed wine than if it were made from Marsanne (which is the white grape that many other producers prefer to use), and his reds are softer and less tannic than those made by some producers in the north.
“Finally!!” I hear you say. Finally the conversation has moved onto grapes! It's one of the relatively straightforward things about Saint-Joseph! The reds, which account for the vast majority of wine produced, are all made from the Syrah grape. The whites consist of two varieties, Marsanne and Roussanne, either alone or as a blend.
While Syrah, also known as Shiraz, has been planted widely throughout the world in recent decades, the Syrah of the northern Rhône will always, in my humble opinion, be the 'benchmark' for quality. Northern Rhône Syrah is restrained, elegant, often with a peppery intensity, which given time, opens up to reveal complex, almost floral flavours and spices.
BBQs and wine – not so different from each other really. Enjoyment from both is very much dependent on the intrinsic quality of what you decide to put ‘on’ the BBQ and ‘in’ the glass.
Sante
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