One of the recent sensations of the Fass Selections Rhone book has been the brilliant Cote-Roties ofGilles Barge with young Julien Barge at the helm. This has to be one of the most exiting and affordable estates in Cote-Rotie today. The wines are traditional with exceptional fruit quality and are not so polished that they have no character, is exactly how I love my wines. Imperfect perfection. And Gilles Barge defines that.I've got a very special wine today that is rare as it is special. It is also the first 2015 I amoffering from Barge. It also is limited. What's new? The amount of demand for 2015s in France and especially in the hot sectors of Saumur/Chinon/Cote Rotie/Hermitage/St. Joseph to name but a few the top wines are being snatched up and reserved at a record pace. I have heard many people say I wish I had a barrel of producer X's Cote Blonde. It's unheard of. There is a finite amount of wine and yet there is what seems to be an unending thirst for top Northern Rhone Syrah. I am doing my best to get as many of the allocations of the best wines. So I will say that in order to get these allocations, sometimes the offers will be fast and furious. In that I do have a method to my madness and these offers are mostly scheduled out. But when something like 2015 Northern Rhone comes up, and you are as dialed into a region like that as I am, I have access that not many others have. This is an insane vintage. We are shipping some of the earlier bottled wines in the next week or two and once you taste what 2015 is in the Northern Rhone you'll get my hyperbole and why and trying to offer as much as I can. This is historic. It is so much beyond 2010 that it is not even in the same league.
With that may I present the 2015 Gilles Barge St. Joseph "Clos Martinet" for $36.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is a charmer and a wine of tremendous fruit and character but not over polished like some Rhone wines are today. The nose is a symphony of all the greatness rustic Northern Rhone Syrah can show. Licorice, herbs, and just a massive amount of intense and lively 2015 fruit. It is broad and generous and it was incredible how wide open it was out of barrel. That is the essence of '15 right there. The palate is just a stunner. Juicy, dense and incredibly ripe with black as night fruits that are so utterly fresh and vivid you are in a dream that the grape Syrah is having and it just encompasses your palate the way a dream takes over your mind. The tannins are thrilling, ripe and sweet with really incredible persistence on the finish. Incredibly integrated already. It's so fresh and linear with a beautiful earthiness. This wine spends 12 months in the used Demi Muids of Cote Blonde. This is stunning in 2015. I had the 10 and then barrel sampled fifteen and it was crazy how good the 15 was. It is incredibly dense and so pure. The wine has literally everything you could possibly ask for in a great St. Joseph. Just incredible stuff. There is so much great wine in St. Joseph if you know where to look. This is from Chavannes in the Northern sector of St. Joseph where wines are produced that are deep and elegant at the same time. This is a classic example. This is limited. Very.
Up next I have a limited amount of the 2015 Gilles Barge St. Joseph Blanc "La Ribaudy" for as little as $36.99 on a 4-pack. The nose is all exotic Marsanne aromas. Lime, guava, passion fruit, pineapple, citrus. Not honeyed in the least which I adore. Serious complex fruit aromas. And deep. There is serious zip and zing on the palate. So zesty. The palate has that unique Marsanne minerality with fennel and a deep flavor that cannot be described but is essentially Marsanne. I've been banging the drum on Northern Rhone whites for a while now and the trio of '13, '14, '15 is unlike any three vintages in a row I've seen. '15 has the audacious fruit of 13 but also some of the nice linear acidity of 14 but also that extra push that makes it the best vintage of the three. This is 100% Marsanne also from Chavannes very where the Clos Martinet is sourced. Julien Barge only makes 1,200-1,400 bottles a year of this stuff and it is even more limited in 2015. Julien does not stir the lees to preserve the authenticity of the style and terroir. I love how serious he is about this white even though in the grand scheme of things at Barge this wine is an afterthought at just under 120 cases. But Julien has such a touch with the whites you wish he made more. It's awesome. Not to be missed and very allocated.
2015 Gilles Barge St. Joseph "Clos Martinets" - $38.99 ($147.96 4-pack)
2015 Gilles Barge St. Joseph Blanc "La Ribaudy" - $38.99
($147.96 4-pack)
No comments:
Post a Comment