- Straightforward - Let the Terroir Shine Through
- Terrific Purity
- Flavors Are Precisely Delineated
- Great Balance - Mineral Backbone to the Fruit
- Very Distinctive Style Not to Be Missed By Rhone Lovers
2017 Jean-François Jacouton St. Joseph "St. Epine"
- 93 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
- So Floral. So Complex
- Huge Granite, Cassis and Red Licorice
- Earth, Granitic, Unreal Aromas
- Palate: Bonkers
- Very, Very Pure
- Terrific Inner Mouth Aromas
- Super Elegant and Refined Red Fruits
2017 Jean-Francois Jacouton St. Joseph Blanc "Souvenirs d'Andre"
- Loads of Mineral and Yellow Fruits
- Savory. Lemon, Lime
- Long, Mineral Finish
In my world it's:
1) I discover a winery.
2) I sell the wines and popularize them.
3) The wines become popular because of the list liking them and critic reviews
4) They become more expensive and likely allocated.
5) I have to find a new winery in the same region.
And, ladies and gentlemen, we are at #3 today. Which is good if you like to buy great wines at the start of the price curve.
Jean-François Jacoutin has not been in business long but he will be a star. He used to work at Domaine Durand of Cornas/St. Joseph fame, but branched out on his own in 2016. His first vintage was 2013. St. Joseph wines since only 2015. His grandfather was an apricot farmer and also had vines. Jean-Francois makes some terrific Vin de Pays, one from a plot inherited from his grandfather, St. Joseph and a Cornas.
The Style
The style here is mineral focused wines with a stunning drinkability factor and gorgeous purity. Every flavor here is extremely precise, clean and pure. And the mineral backbone in all of the wines balances the fruit and prevents the wines from becoming blowsy. He is working the correct way. Honest and thoughtful and it shows in his wines.
This is a very distinct style and I can see Jacoutin shooting up the hierarchy quite quickly. With the 93 point rating, the ascension has already begun.
The 2017 Vintage
2017 is such an amazing vintage in the North and now that the wines have had an extra year to integrate and gain more depth they have and are so so good. I think in 2017, large swaths of St. Joseph are the likely sweet spot of the vintage.
The Wines
I'll start with the flagship wine that is also the rarest. This is also the debut vintage and the wine is flat out stunning. The 2017 Jean-François Jacouton St. Joseph "St. Epine" can be had for $41.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. I reserved the last few bottles so that I could sell them after Jeb's reviews came out and this is extremely limited. This is a magnificent value and such a stunning wine it almost made me stand up straight.
The nose is what got me first. OMG is this floral. So complex. So crazy. Huge granite, cassis and red
The palate is bonkers. Juicy and so complex and very, very pure. Wonderful. Sappy and very dense with super elegant and refined red fruits. So so pure. Great fruit. This is stunningly red fruited as Epine is known for with lovely vivid licorice on the finish. So nice. Terrific inner mouth aromas and a spine of minerality that runs throughout. The minerality, linearity and definition of this wine is remarkable. It has insane freshness and this is a baby now and has enormous potential. The balance of this wine is off the charts. The structure is dense and also lithe. The fruit is sweet and velvety was caresses like nothing else. Sensual, sauvage and seductively drinkable. So delicious. But make no mistake this will age 10-15 years. The length of this wine is dazzling. Palate is juicy and complex with wonderful elegance and terrific high quality tannin. So fresh and that dazzling length again. Terrific concentration and purity.
Recent US-Based Note. I recently had a superb bottle of this a few weeks ago and it has changed. For the better. Here is my note. Nose of white pepper, dark and red berries, game, olive, lavender, huge granite, some lanolin and so so stunningly clean. Such aromatic detail and depth. So elegant, juicy and balanced with super high quality tannins and lovely freshness .Man those tannins. So sleek. So refined. The level of precision is off the charts. Wow. Stunning.
This is totally showing out of its mind. VERY LIMITED. Below is Jeb Dunnuck's 93 Point Score.
"Lastly, and brought up in 20% new oak, the 2017 Saint Joseph Chemin De Sainte Epine comes from a great vineyard located on the northern side of Tournon, which is mostly decomposed granite soils and a colder terroir. It offers a terrific sense of minerality as well as lots of black raspberry and mulberry fruits, notes of spiced meat and dried herbs, medium body, ripe tannins, and notable yet integrated acidity. It's the most complex and balanced of the releases from Jacouton and can be drunk today or cellared for over a decade." 93 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
Up next I have one of my favorite sleeper categories of wine. Before I opened this company I rarely drank Northern Rhone Whites. They had a reputation of heavy, broad, low acid wines that offered little nuance and interest. That's totally what I thought. But after traveling to the Northern Rhone regularly now my opinion is much more elevated as to really get Northern Rhone whites you have to spend time there. It's like in order to really understand The Grateful Dead you had to go to a show. The delta between the experience of the show and just listening to a recording is immeasurable. I got N. Rhone whites because I immersed myself in it, ate food with the wines, had old ones, had young ones, had cheap ones, had super expensive ones, tasted at dozens of estates and a few consumer tastings for the wine buying public in Tain l'Hermitage. Obviously all of you cannot have that experience. But I've learned a lot about the wines and here's what I think is how these wines should be discussed.They have terrific freshness, but not from acid all the time necessarily. They can have killer acid and I lean towards those ones in general but they all, every single wine has a unique and compelling mineral freshness. The freshness that comes from the unique minerality of Marsanne and Roussane is what makes these wines interesting, distinctive and fresh.When they are closed, they are shut. They almost throw mini wine tantrums. They can appear oxidized mid life for some of the mid to high end wines. In the N. Rhone when discussing the aging curve of these wines many growers speak of a wine in this oxidative period fondly as it's a natural thing. They know it will come out. I had a 97 St. Joseph Blanc once and then grower commented that the wine is almost out of it oxidative closed phase.If you don't want to risk it, drink them all within 5 years. 13-18 are all insane vintages and all very different.Having said that aging them is worth it for me as the glory of aged N. Rhone Whites is indeed special and the ROI is off the charts.
Now I've got a wonderful new one to add to the dozens of N. Rhone whites I've sold. The 2017 Jean-Francois Jacouton St. Joseph Blanc "Souvenirs d'Andre" for $32.99 a bottle on a 4-pack. This is 50% Marsanne and 50% Rousanne.
Classic floral Marsanne aromas with loads of mineral and yellow fruits. Savory. Lemon, lime, smells almost lean. Some apricot and tangerine jelly. Really terrific aromas. Terrific richness and finesse and very very minerals giving this precision and freshness. Juicy and so so clean. Lovely purity and finesse. Long, energetic and mineral finish. So balanced. Really glides on your palate. So well made. The wine is beautiful. Silky and long with the requisite fat of the North but also terrific balancing acidity. It is super balanced and fresh. At once shows terrific opulence but finishes with nice cleansing acids that fan out the unique minerality. Long and structured. Very deep wine. Below is Jeb's 90 Point Score,
"A blend of equal parts Marsanne and Roussanne, the 2017 Saint Joseph Souvenirs D'Andre Blanc offers a clean yet vibrant bouquet of honeyed citrus, white currants, and mint, with a kiss of reductive-like minerality. Nicely textured and medium-bodied, it's well-balanced and capable of evolving for at least 4-6 years." 90 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
2017 Jean-Francois Jacoutin St. Joseph "St. Epine" - $43.99
($167.96 4-pack) (*Including Tariff of $4.49)
2017 Jean-Francois Jacoutin St. Joseph Blanc "Souvenirs d'Andre" - $34.99 ($131.96 4-pack) (*Including Tariff of $3.29)
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