I'm Getting Smarter - Offering this Super Popular St Joseph Producer Before the French Can Buy It All

The last 2 vintages, I offered this wine too late in the year, maxed out my allocation and had to disappoint a bunch of people  So this year, I've learned my lesson and am offering it in August in a

sneak attack on the French (who love this wine).  For those of you new to the list, I'll review my notes on Marsanne's St. Joseph:

1) St. Joseph is the hot new area in the Rhone - it has terrific terroir and is still a value because it has yet to be "discovered."  For those who have not yet read Eric Asmiov's article on St. Joseph in the New York Times, here it is.

2) John Livingstone-Learmouth, the most famous Rhone critic, loves the wines and has put them on his Soil to Glass Transfer Group list (i.e. the winemaker does an incredible job of allowing the wines to express terroir).

3) The hot new producer, challenging the Gonons for supremacy, is Jean-Claude Marsanne.

4) The French are snapping up his wines.

5) The Fass Selections customers who have received these have loved the 2010s and the 2011s and the 2012s are even better.

Without further ado, I am offering the 2012 Jean-Claude Marsanne St. Joseph can be had for as little as $35.99 on a 4-pack. At the recent Salon des Vins I tasted with the very underrated and polite Jean-Claude Marsanne and his whole lineup was dynamite. He is surely making some of the best St. Joseph going today. More like a baby Hermitage the 2012 has amazing power, depth and structure. I think the aromas from Jean-Claude's St. Joseph are some of the best for any St. Joseph. Blood, roasted meats, gravy, violets and a confectionary quality that complicates things even more. The palate, depending on vintage, is usually supple (2011), or supple/structured (2010 - needs 5 years) or supple/structured++ (2012, most complex and ageworthy of the trio).  You can drink this now with a heavy decant and age it for 10 or more years.

A 4 pack is really not enough of a great wine like this in a vintage like this.  Q: How many of you wish that you bought more 2005 Gonon?  Answer: everyone who bought any of it (and likely has none left).

The recipe here is very simple and traditional, which are the specs for most Fass Selections producers. The vines are typically between 60-70 years old and the cellar work is traditional. Their new vines have been propagated by old cuttings since the 70's.

This has been a a very popular wine in the feedback that I am getting. Some have even said this is my Northern Rhone Murat. I won't disagree. They need air but once the proper air is given these are miraculous wines.

This is about as serious as St. Joseph gets in 2012. Just a massive wine that lathers your palate but is all in balance. It is round but has buried, burly tannins that peek out on the finish but the fruit keeps pumping, but ideally this needs a 3-5 hour decant. It had so much going on when I tasted it in late February.. Jean-Claude in vintages like 2010 and 2012 hits it out of the park and in lighter vintages like 2011 the wines have less structure and are incredible for early drinking. This is so utterly classic and Jean-Claude, I don't know how he does it but, for me, gets the most classic and pure expression of St. Joseph terroir I have smelled and tasted. John Livingstone calls it a STGT wine which means "Soil to Glass Transfer wine." Which is pretty self explanatory.

The wines just smell like they should cost a lot more than they do. France knows as these wines sell out very quickly there. This has been just released but will be sold or shortly and that is why I had to bust my hump and offer it. I have a good amount. For now. As many of you have learned when dealing with small quantities like Fass Selections does, you snooze, you lose. The finiteness is actually a very cool and interesting thing about wine. But it also makes many a disappointed client if they miss out.

These will be shipped in the November shipment.

2012 Jean-Claude Marsanne St. Joseph - $37.99 ($143.96 4-pack)