The finest St-Jo Blanc I have ever tasted

2016 Saint-Joseph Blanc This is a game-changer for this oft-ignored appellation, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
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published
in Features

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2016 Saint-Joseph Blanc, Lieu-Dit, E. Guigal, Northern Rhne, France.

£48, Laithwaites, 020-7407 6378.

I tasted the new releases from pioneering Rhne heavyweights Guigal the other day and it was business as usual until I encountered the cheeky 2016 Ctes-du-Rhne Blanc (about £12.99, PortlandWine.co.uk, NobleGreenWines.co.uk, LokiWine.co.uk). The new vintage of this justly revered white-wine classic is absolutely terrific.

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A complex blend, with viognier leading the way, this is an ethereal treat that brings a completely new flavour palette into play for the adventurous wine drinker. It has mild exoticism and dramatic acidity in equal measure.

Job done? Not so, because the very next wine completely blew my palate away. One step above Marcel Guigal's standard St-Jo Blanc is his monumental Lieu-Dit creation. Using old-vine marsanne, from the former Grippat estate that Guigal now owns, augmented with dramatic roussanne, this is a wine with extraordinarily lofty ambitions. It is fermented in both new and one-year-old barrels and this brings a stunning, faint gingerbread note to the already luscious, pear and quince-smooched fruit. I am certain that this is the finest St-Jo Blanc I have ever encountered.

Superficially, the label and stunning etched bottle add immeasurably to this wine's class trumpeting its glory long before you satiate your palate with its sumptuous flavours.It has only just arrived in the country and the only merchant is Laithwaites, so do not delay. This is a game-changer for this oft-ignored appellation.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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