Alain Graillot - St.-Joseph 2020 (Pre-arrival) (750ml)
Price: $65.00
Sale Price: $49.00
| Producer | Alain Graillot |
| Country | France |
| Region | Rhone Valley |
| Subregion | St. Joseph |
| Varietal | Rhone Blend |
| Vintage | 2020 |
| Sku | 5783 |
| Size | 750ml |
Vinous: 92 Points
Dark violet color. Assertive mineral- and spice-accented blackberry bacon olive and woodsmoke aromas pick up a floral quality with aeration. Sappy and broad on the palate offering pliant dark berry spicecake black pepper and floral pastille flavors and a hint of botanical herbs. Closes with repeating smoke and olive notes even tannins and strong tenacity. - By Josh Raynolds on December 2022 Domaine Alain Graillot?s Crozes-Hermitage has long been a benchmark wine for the region. Thanks to worldwide distribution starting in the mid- to late-1980s it was for many wine lovers an introduction to the wines of the Northern Rhône and Syrah in general. Sadly Graillot passed away this past March. Happily his sons Maxime and Antoine who have been at the domaine?s helm since 2008 have not missed a beat regarding maintaining quality and the estate?s reputation. Maxime de-stems most of the fruit for wines under his label Equis but he maintains his father?s practice of working with whole clusters here. He likes to say ?These are Alain Graillot wines and that?s what he preferred.?
vWine Advocate: 89-91 Points
Tasted from a 10-hectoliter oak tank the 2020 Saint Joseph boasts herbal raspberry-scented aromas. It's medium to full-bodied and silky in feel with slightly ashy-stemmy notes on a crisp finish. Maxime Graillot had finished harvesting his white grapes and was just starting to pick Syrah on September 22 when I visited the domaine named for his father. "At this point" he said "we don't gain by waiting?everything will go to rot. I've never sprayed the vineyards so much and seen such ugly vines." His attitude toward ripeness made him clearly ambivalent about some of the recent vintages as he is increasingly happy to pick early. "In 2020 when I was finishing most of my neighbors were starting but we don't have to push ripeness so far. With hindsight we're entering a new era of ripeness" he said. "Our chance here is to be the cradle for less-ripe Syrah. What I want is kind of crunchy not jammy." While visiting we also had a chance to taste the wines from Maxime's own Domaine des Lises and his négociant business Equis both of which are listed under their own headings. While the Alain Graillot wines continue to be made with 100% whole clusters those other ventures use fewer or no stems depending on the vintage and the cuvée. All are reliable sometimes excellent sources of Northern Rhône wines.
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