Domaine Jean-Louis Chave tasting at Digress Wines: The Saint-Joseph and Selection wines

In describing a Domaine Jean-Louis Chave wine, Master Sommelier Ian Cauble (of SOMM fame) wrote "it is impossible to tell the story of France's Rhône Valley or the Syrah grape without referencing this family's enormous contribution." In the same piece, Ian points to Jancis Robinson affirming that "... in the entire northern Rhône Valley, 'no one is more respected than Domaine Jean-Louis Chave'."

So it was a very big deal when Digress Wines recently partnered with Progress Wine Group to host a tasting of Chave wines for its customers. I have previously reported on our tasting of the Hermitage flight and now turn my attention to the St. Joseph and J-L Chave Selection wines.

Lineup of Chave wines tasted at Digress Wines event.
Photo credit: Brian Herbst

The Saint-Joseph wines are sourced from Chave-owned vineyards while the Selection wines are the fruit of a negociant business where there is a mix of owned vineyards and purchased fruit. In the cases where fruit is purchased, JL Chave either farms the land or manages the growers tightly to ensure that Chave-quality fruit makes it into the wine.

The map below is drawn from my post on the St-Joseph appellation and shows its commune-level structure. The tables immediately following show the actual climat-level sources for both the Saint-Joseph and Selection wines.

Table 1. Vineyard sources for Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Saint-Joseph wine.

Commune	Climat	Soils	Vine Age	Comments
Tournon			Some of the oldest St-Joseph vines. Some date back to pre-WWI, others to the early 1980s, but most from 1992 and 1993
	Dardouille	Granitic; some dusty loess and clay in lower reaches		Extension of the Les Olivier hill. SE exposure. Runs up to 250 m
	Les Oliviers	Granitic at the bottom but much of the soil is a clay-galet stone mix		Noted for its ripening quality
Mauves
	Les Côtes Derrière	Firm granite	2003	Most southerly site at Mauves; 30 ha
	Sapelias
St-Jean-de-Muzols
	Picchonier			Lower down on the slope
Lemps				Chaves family origin
	Les Côtes de Pouilly (known locally as Bachasson)	Full granite	1.5 ha planted every year from 1996 - 2002	Jean-Louis resurrecting this old family vineyard. Upper flank is south-facing

Table 2. Vineyard sources for JL Chave Selection wines

Label	Appellation	Variet(ies)y	Vineyards	Vineyard Age (years)	Fermentation	Aging
Circa	St. Joseph	Roussanne	Mauves (granite)	5 - 60	Barrel	Barriques — 14 months
Mon Coeur	Côtes du Rhône	Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre (~5%)	Visan (clay-limestone); Vinsobres (clay soil rich in limestone; 900 feet elevation); Cairanne (Mediterranean climate); Rasteau (used in select vintages)	20 - 60	Stainless steel tanks	12 14 months in a mix of old and new barrels, demi-muids, and large foudres
Offerus	St Joseph	Syrah	Mauves, Tournon, and St-Jean-de-Muzols supply 80% of blend. Owned vineyards. Remaining vineyards located around Serreirès. Farmed	5 - 80	50% destemmed. Fermented in wood tonneau and stainless steel tanks.	Aged in barriques and foudres for 18 months
Silene	Crozes-Hermitage	Syrah	Hillside vineyards in Larnage and Gervans; 50% owned	5 - 25	Wood tonneau and stainless steel	Aged in barriques for 15 - 18 months

We were served the 2016 Circa and Mon Coeur wines during the reception. The Circa showed white flowers and green herbs. Finely etched and mineral-driven on the palate. The minerality offset a lack of acidity. The Mon Coeur was perfumed with red fruit and vinosity dominant. Light bodied  with dried herbs and spice on the palate. Drying character on the palate.

The Offerus 2015 was spicy with some florality and elegant dark/blue fruit. Structured. Light fruit on the palate but the wine still retains its structure. Nice mineral/acid finish.

The Silene 2016 was perfumed with spice and green herbs. I was unimpressed by this wine.

The Domaine St-Joseph 2014 was aromatic with sawdust, animal, and bacon on the nose. Bacon and dark fruit on the palate. Could have been brighter. The 2012 showed bacon, blood, and herbs on the nose and palate. Saline character and pleasant red fruit on the palate. The 2009 showed spice, black fruit, and meat on the nose. Medium-bodied with blackfruit, blackpepper, and meat on the palate. Pleasing. The 2008 had a similar character to the 2009 except distinctly more blood and minerality.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

St-Joseph (Northern Rhône): The physical environment

St-Joseph, according to John Livingston-Learmonth (The Wines of the Northern Rhône),

... is a country cousin wine which can rise to the occasion, but which above all expresses a very important Syrah style for anyone wanting to check out this grape's credential. Syrah and granite is a good pairing ... Its grandiose at Hermitage, voluptuous at Côte-Rôtie off the Côte Blonde, grave at Cornas and here (ed: St-Joseph) -- well, its lively, unleashed, and often delicious.

The wines from this Northern Rhone appellation "... can capture and convey the elemental aromas, flavors, and emotions of these wines, but in a more open, easier-going manner" and does not require the aging (5 - 7 years) associated with Cornas (8 - 12 years), Hermitage (15 - 20 years) or Côte-Rôtie (15 - 20 years).

St-Joseph is a tale of two appellations, both temporally and spatially. The initial appellation designation occurred in June 1956 and gave protection to the fruit and wines from 6 communes stretching over a distance of 6 miles. This initial appellation was expanded to 25 communes, and 40 miles, in 1969, effectively shifting the gravitational center of the appellation to the north and resulting in distinctive northern and southern zones.

The history and current structure of the appellation is shown in the figure below.

The expansion of the appellation did not immediately benefit the reputation of the region's wine. According to Livingston-Learmonth:

The immediate implication is this: large amounts of young vines now grow on sites that cannot be all good -- and if their fruit is handled by novice vignerons, there is little certainty that good wine will be the outcome.

Well more than a decade has gone by since John uttered these words so the vines have become older and the vignerons more expert. There are, however, no solutions for bad sites.

All six of the original appellation communes are located in the southern zone of the expanded appellation (See figure below).

Granite is the overarching theme of the appellation but a limestone seam can be found between Chateaubourg and Guilherand in the extreme south. While dominant, the granite is not uniform in composition or effect. According to Jean Gonon, the granite found in St-Jean-de-Muzols and Tournon differ in that:

The St-Jean-de-Muzols granite is composed of very small particles and is not as rich as the Tournon soil. The Tournon granite contains some mica and has larger grains as well a some clay -- it is less degraded. The Syrah from the sunnier, full south St-Jean soils is marked by brambly, often black fruits and is intrinsically pretty generous -- there is little sense of the northern zones toughness or taut texture from the core areas of St-Joseph.

The most significant communes of the northern zone are shown in the figure below.

As mentioned earlier, granite is the theme running through the St-Joseph appellation and this granite imparts an order and structure to the tannins of the region's wines. According to Livingston-Learmonth:

It places a frame around the wines that keep them tidy, subtle, and ready for an evolution that turns fulsome youth into complex middle age. The tannins give the wines a slightly pesky side, the fruit is grainy,a little taut at times, but always the aroma is vibrant and layered, never monotone.

That being said, there are demonstrable differences between the wines from the northern and southern zones of the appellation and these are characterized in the table below.

Northern Zone Wines	Southern Zone Wines
Upright, peppered wines	Wines that are warmer and more “embracing”
Reserved	More instantly open
Richness less intense	Richness apparent
	Blackstrap, tarry notes
	Tannins riper and mellower
Wines are younger and from more modern clones
Green pepper aspect to the wines of Chavanay	Much less evident at Tournon

With this description of the physical aspects of St-Joseph completed, I will next turn to the tasting of the Chave St-Joseph wines at Digress.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Northern Rhone Rocks: Soils of the sub-region

The Rhone Valley vineyard architecture has been shaped by tectonic, hydrologic, and wind forces applied to the evolving landscape over eons, as described in a prior post. The result has been two distinctly different vineyard settings: (i) vineyards on the edge of faults (Northern Rhone) and (ii) vineyards set in sedimentary basins (Southern Rhone). We address the Northern Rhone vineyards in this post based on the work of Jacques Fanet (Great Wine Terroirs).

The aftershock associated with the Alpine folding (started in the Upper Cretaceous and reached a crescendo in the Miocene) caused an uplift in the eastern edge of the Massif Central with implications for Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhone Valley. In the Rhone Valley, the uplift was non-uniform. Rather, it occurred in fault-delimited tranches that front on the river's northern course. One such fault is responsible for the river's rightward jog at Vienne prior to returning to its "normal" southerly course in the area of Condrieu.

Bordering the river for its entire northern course, and varying in its width, is a band of alluvial soil which has been continuously brought downriver from the Alps. Most of the riverbank towns in the Northern Rhone are built on beds of this alluvia.

With the exception of the Croze-Hermitage and Hermitage AOCs, all of the Northern Rhone appellations are located on the right-hand-side of the river, clinging precariously to the steep metamorphic or granitic slopes of the Massif Central.

The Côte-Rotie is the first appellation encountered on the river's southward trek and its 60º, terraced slopes are dark brown, weathered as they are from Mica bedrock. The soils in the south of the appellation are thin, lighter in color, and weathered from Gneiss bedrock. The southwest jog of the Rhône between Vienne and Condrieu provides excellent southeastern exposure for vines. Syrah thrives here.

Beginning at Condrieu AOC, the right bank is granitic rock capped by loess. These granitic scarps give way to metamorphic rocks in the Saint-Joseph appellation opposite the confluence of the Dolon River. The north-south flow of the river in this zone provides an easterly exposure on the cliff face, undesirable for grape-growing in this region. Instead, a series of northeast-to-southwest valleys provide south, southeast, and east exposures and are exploited for vineyard plantings.

The Saint-Joseph appellation is granitic to the north, gives way to metamorphic rock just north of the St. Vallier cut, and then reverts to granite opposite Tain-l'Hermitage.

From Vienne to Saint-Vallier, the left bank of the river still reflects the multi-level terraces formed as the river recut its banks in the migration to its current course. In the places where best preserved, a total of four terrace levels are on display. Beginning at Saint-Vallier, the Rhone cut its way through the metamorphic rocks and basement granite, providing right-bank-style soils on the left bank between Saint-Vallier and Tain-l'Hermitage. The Hermitage appellation encompasees the granite of the Hill of Hermitage plus some of the upper-terrace strata. The Crozes-Hermitage appellation is inclusive of the Hermitage soils as well as the Miocene and lower-terrace soils. Terrace soils are primarily clay-limestone from the Tertiary period.

For the remainder of the river's Northern Valley course, the left bank displays lower terrace strata and one outcropping of upper-terrace strata overlaying Miocene deposits in the upper reaches of the Isere tributary. The river continues to hug the right bank along the Massif through the remainder of the Saint-Joseph appellation.

Cornas AOC is also a granitic appellation but is shelterted from the north winds by a Jurassic limestone outcrop called Les Arlettes. The river and the granitic scarp begin to diverge in the vicinity of Les Arlettes with the Massif trending southwest and the river to the southeast. The space thus created is occupied by lower-terrace strata.

Saint-Péray AOC is the southernmost of the Northern Rhone appellations. The Massif Central intrudes into the appellation in its northwest quadrant and combines with a similarly oriented Jurassic limestone outcrop -- Crussol -- to hem in a band of Miocene-Pliocene strata. The Saint-Péray soil is a complex mix of limestone, clay-limestone, and granite which owes its composition to a number of donors (rhone-wines.com): (i) granite from the Primary Period contributes a hint of silica; (ii) Jurassic limestones from the Secondary Era; (iii) marine deposits from the Tertiary Period are the source of today's clay-limestone soils; (iv) a veneer of loess from the Quaternary Period and Major Glaciations; and (v) alluvial deposits carried down from the Alps by the Rhône River. The vineyards themselves extend for 75 ha on the gentle lower terrace slopes at the foot of the Crussol Hill with south and southeast exposures. Marsanne and Roussanne are the allowed grape varieties in the appellation.

As the Massif Central rapidly exits stage right, space is created wherein Vocontian Trough and sedimentary basin geology dominate. This is the realm of the Southern Rhone. Its geology will be revealed in a subsequent post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Construction of the Rhone wine region landscape

I have been selected to participate in a Press Trip to Chateauneuf du Pape and Tavel prior to DWCC14. I will, of course, be reporting on my findings both during and after the trip but, in keeping with my blog's mantra of "a story within a story," I will set the stage by describing, in ever-tightening circles, the environments within which the winemakers of those two regions operate. I begin here with the outermost circle, landscape formation in the Rhone River Basin, the broader region within which these two appellations are located.

Source: grid.unep.ch

The Rhône wine region runs along its namesake river for 250 km (150 miles) -- and 6 departèments -- between Lyon in the north and Avignon in the south with a division into northern and southern sub-regions at the point where the Drôme tributary intersects the main course. The Northern Rhône is characterized by a continental climate, granitic soils, steep slopes, and the mistral (a high-speed --140 km/90 miles per hour -- north wind that is funneled between the Massif Central and Vercors when there is high pressure over northern France and low pressure in the western Mediterranean) while the south has a more Mediterranean climate, the marin (a moist sea wind), and stony soils. What they both have in common, though, is a sea of red wine: only 2% of the region's production is white.

The Rhone Valley is a sedimentary basin but, unlike the expansiveness of its two better-known compatriots (Paris and Aquitaine basins), it is corridor-like and tightly bound between the unflinching basement rock of the Massif Central to its east and the younger rocks of the Alps to its west (Fanet, Great Wine Terroirs).

I have treated the formation of the Massif Central in my comparison of Douro and Beaujolais granite and schists. Suffice it to say that it was part of a vast mountain range (The Hercynian Mountain Belt) stretching from Britain to Eastern Europe which was formed as a result of a continental collision which ended 200 million years ago. This range has been severely eroded over millennia and in many places only exist as "basement" rock, hidden from view by sedimentary deposits. The figures below show the distribution of cover and basement rocks in current-day France as well as the composition of the varying rock types.

Basement and cover rocks of France.
Source:http://www.virtual-geology.info/lozere/lozere.html

Relationship between basement and cover rocks.
Source: http://www.virtual-geology.info/lozere/lozere.html

Formation timeline -- basement and cover rocks
Source: http://www.virtual-geology.info/lozere/lozere.html

The table below catalogs a series of events from the Lower Cretaceous onwards which have had contributory effects to the current Rhone Valley landscape. The figure immediately following shows the geologic construct of France as a whole and, outlined in black, that of the Rhone River Valley.

Period	Action/Occurrence	Result
Lower Cretaceous (135 - 96 My)	Reef limestone deposited on continental platform surrounding Vocontian Trough (deep undersea area south of today's Valence)	Hard limestone hills now surrounding the Rhone Valley
Upper Cretaceous (96 - 65 My)	Vocontian Trough filled with sandstone/sandy limestone/marly-sandstone First phase of folding in Provence due to uplift of Pyrenean-Provençal axis (through end of Eocene)	Formed right bank of Rhone, Tricastin, and Massif d’Uchaux Forced the Jurassic and Cretaceous cover northward
Oligocene (36 - 24 My)	Thick deposits of conglomerates, sandstones, limestone accumulated in the foothills of the young hills	Rhone Valley axis collapsed
Miocene (24 - 5 My)	Sea used the Rhone Valley as a corridor to link up to sea covering Central Europe Alpine uplift reaches a crescendo	Sands, marly sands, sandy molasse deposited Rhone digs itself through Miocene deposits as well as Urgonian limestone (formation of the Donzère defile) Carves deep gash in basement granite north of present-day Tain l'Hermitage Raising of the region along its eastern border
Pliocene (5 - 2 My)	Final marine incursion	Deposits of fine argillaceous and argillaceous-sandy elements
Quaternary (2 -  My)	Erosion changed the look of the landscape	Rubble and scree built up in the piedmont of the Urgonian limestone hills Four levels of stony terrace systems formed along the Rhone and tributaries

MY = Millions of years. Data sourced from Fanet, Great Wine Terroirs.

The types of soils present in, as well as the location of, vineyards are a result of these landscape formation activities. In a follow-up post I will detail the vineyards and their soils.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Saint-Péray AOC: A fount of bubbles in a still-wine sea

The Rhône wine region runs along its namesake river for 150 miles between Lyon in the north and Avignon in the south with a division into northern and southern sub-regions at the point where the Drôme tributary intersects the main course. Northern Rhône is characterized by a continental climate, granitic soils, steep slopes, and the Mistral wind while the south has a more Mediterranean climate and stony soils. What they both have in common, though, is a sea of red wine: only 2% of the region's production is white. And an even smaller percentage is sparkling. In my previous post I covered the sparkling wines of Die, but Die lies off the Rhône beaten path. In this post I will cover the sparkling wine of Saint-Péray, an AOC in Rhône's core.

Used with the permission of Syndicat de
la Clairette de Die et des vins du Diois 

Saint-Péray is an appellation (accorded 1936) for still white and sparkling wines produced in the parishes of Saint-Péray and Touland, neighboring communes in the Ardèche Départment of the Rhône-Alpes Region of Southern France. The region, located as it is three miles west of the town of Valence, is the southernmost of the Northern Rhône appellations.

The climate in Northern Rhône is continental, with warm summers and cold winters. While Saint-Péray exists within this climatic mantle, it is somewhat cooler than Cornas -- its neighbor to the north -- thanks to a cold wind -- Bise -- which flows along the Mialan Valley from an opening in the north. Average temperature in the region is 12.5℃ and average annual rainfall is 823 mm.

The Saint-Péray soil is a complex mix of limestone, clay-limestone, and granite which owes its composition to a number of donors (rhone-wines.com): (i) granite from the Primary Period contributes a hint of silica; (ii) Jurassic limestones from the Secondary Era; (iii) marine deposits from the Tertiary Period are the source of today's clay-limestone soils; (iv) a veneer of loess from the Quaternary Period and Major Glaciations; and (v) alluvial deposits carried down from the Alps by the Rhône River.

Saint-Péray vineyards extend over 75 ha of the gentle slopes on the right bank of the river at the foot of the limestone outcrop called Crussol Hill. The vineyards have a south to southeast exposure and are at altitudes that range between 107 and 652 meters. Regulations mandate minimum vine density of 4000 vines/ha.

The allowed grapes in the AOC are Marsanne (majority of plantings) and Roussanne. The characteristics of these two varieties are presented in the table below.

                                                  Saint-Péray Varieties

Characteristics	Marsanne	Roussanne
Synonyms	Marsanne Blanche, Grosse Roussette, Avilleran, Ermitage, Ermitage Blanc	Franceas Rousette, Bergeron, Plant de Seysel, Fromenteau
Site preference	Warm, dry, stony	lean soils; arid; rocky
Vine	Vigorous, high-yielding	Vigorous; semi-erect; sometimes fragile
Leaves	Large; round; rough; 3-5 lobes; matte dark green upper surface, tufted lower surface	Medium to large; thick; 3 to 5 lobes; rough; Dark-green on upper surface, downy on lower
Bunches	Conical, winged, medium-sized	Medium-sized; elongated; semi-cylindrical; winged
Berries	Small, round, thin-skinned; deep golden color on ripening	Small; round; sometimes irregular; golden with rust spots at maturity
Flesh	Soft; juicy, sweet	Crisp
Juice	High alcohol level; deep color	Sweet
Wine	Light; dry; short-lived; added to Syrah to provide finesse; when combined with Roussanne, results in aromatic, delicate, interesting wine; toast, honey, and almond aromas	Blended with Marsanne; used in Vin de Paille; Lime and blossom aromas
Other	Susceptible to disease; sensitive to temperature extremes	Low yielding; susceptible to rot; difficult to ripen; prone to oxidation

Sources: Grapes and Wines of the World, www.winelit.slsa.sa.gov.au; bbr.com

Sparkling wine production using the Traditional Method has been practiced in Saint-Péray since 1829. The grapes are harvested and then quickly transported to the cellar to prevent oxidation. After slow pressing, the juice is directed to vats or oak casks for fermentation and then to barrels or tanks for aging. Oak is used fairly commonly in the region in order to add complexity to the mix. Second fermentation occurs in bottle with the wine residing on lees for a minimum of 15 months prior to market release. Allowed yields are 52 hl/ha and a max of 11.5% abv for sparkling wine (The corresponding numbers for still wine are 45 hl/ha and 13%). Sparkling wines can be 100% Marsanne, 100% Roussanne, or a blend of the two. Blends are the dominant market-facing elaboration.

According to rhone-wines.com, 2012 Saint-Péray production amounted to 2686 hl ( yield attainment of 35 hl/ha) while sales amounted to 3008 hl, most of which was consumed domestically (9% exported).


©Wine -- Mise en abyme