2020 St Joseph Les Oliviers Blanc

Blended with 5% Roussanne, the 2020 Saint Joseph Les Oliviers Blanc shines on all accounts, and for a hot vintage, it holds onto a beautiful sense of purity and freshness. Golden apples, almond paste, brioche, and crushed stone define the bouquet, and it's medium-bodied on the palate, with an Hermitage-like sense of structure and concentration. Give bottles a year in the cellar and enjoy through 2032.

Just blended the day before my visit, the 2020 Saint Joseph les Oliviers Blanc is roughly 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne. For only the second time in the domaine's history, the grapes were picked in August (the other vintage where this happened was 2003), yet the wine retains a terrific zesty freshness that balances its full-bodied nature and honeyed pear and melon flavors. It should drink well on release and for the next several years.

100% Syrah. Cask sample tasted at the domaine. Bright and pure with bags of energy. Minerally freshness but the palate rich and silky with a spicy element that persists. Tannins present but finely honed. Dense but almost weightless with that minerally freshness and feel. Less power than 2019, in which the alcohol was almost 1% higher. (JL)