2016 St Joseph Ste Epine

Always one of the wines of the appellation, the 2016 Saint Joseph Sainte Epine from Delas comes from a terrific terroir just north of Tournon. This is a sunny yet cooler, windy region of pure granite soils, and the wine spent 16 months in new and once-used barrels. Saturated purple-colored, with lots of cassis, crushed violets, and liquid rock aromas and flavors, it's seamless and elegant on the palate, with beautiful finesse in its tannins and rocking purity of fruit. This beauty just glides across the palate, is medium-bodied, impeccably balanced, and a classic Northern Rhône Syrah that will keep for a decade. Owned by the Louis Roederer/Deutz Champagne firm, Delas Frères is another largely negotiate estate that is fashioning brilliant wines from throughout the Rhône Valley. The incredible quality has been led by Burgundian Jacques Grange, who joined Delas Frères in 1997, and he’s assisted by the talented Claire Darnaud. The 2015s, reviewed last year, are some of the finest wines ever from this estate (same league as the 2009s and 2010s). They’ve done a fine job in 2016, with the wines showing more elegant characters, missing the density or structure of a top year, yet offering balanced, very drinkable profiles. The 2017s should surpass the 2016s, but also have upfront charming characters. It’s worth noting that this estate has seen a progression in style since 2005, where the wines were more extracted and oaky, to the 2016s and 2017s today, which could be seen as more mid-weight and elegant.

Impressively dark and saturated in color, the 2016 Saint Joseph Sainte-Epine showcases its granite origins, boasting scents of crushed stone on the nose, along with hints of plummy fruit and grilled meat. It's medium to full-bodied, framed by firm yet ripe tannins and classy notes of pencil shavings that linger through the long, silky-textured finish.

Inky ruby. Intense blackberry, cherry and violet aromas are complicated by suggestions of licorice, earth and olive paste. Spicy and incisive on the palate, offering gently sweet, smoke-tinged dark berry and spicecake flavors that deepen and spread out steadily on the back half. Smoothly marries power and finesse and finishes impressively long and spicy, with supple tannins coming in late.