Saint Joseph Rouge Les Granits, M Chapoutier, Northern Rhone, France 2014 

100% Syrah in oak for 18 months. 

In Saint Joseph, as in Hermitage, elevated soils of high granite composition give both Syrah and Marsanne a unique style in an otherwise more simple, broad appellation. The hill above Tournon, the village across the Rhône from Tain, is almost as steep as Hermitage itself, though not so south-facing. Consequently, the vines are very poor yielding, and the wines are able to express place more clearly than the average wine of the appellation. Small plots of 2.4 and 2.3 hectares of 60-80 year old vines of Syrah and 60+ year old vines of Marsanne yield 400 and 900 cases respectively of each of the Les Granits Rouge and Blanc. 

"The two flagship releases from St Joseph include the Le Clos and Les Granits. Almost as good as the Le Clos, the 2014 St Joseph Les Granits offers a complex bouquet of ripe red and black fruits, new saddle leather, beef blood and toasted spice in a medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated style. It has more obvious structure than the Le Clos and needs 3-4 years of bottle age, which isn’t the norm in the vintage." 94/100 Jeb Dunnuck robertparker.com