2015 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St. Joseph Clos Florentin

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 90.9 points

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  1/19/2023 - forceberry wrote: 91 Points

  A single-vineyard Syrah made with fruit sourced from Le Clos de l’Arbalestrier, a vineyard in Mauves which Chave purchased from Domaine Florentin in 2009. The average vineyard age is around 80 years. In vintages 2010-2014 Chave blended the fruit into his Saint-Joseph - exactly as he does with his Hermitage. However, since 2015 he has bottled the best fruit from this vineyard as a separate wine, so we're tasting the debut vintage here. Fermented spontaneously in stainless steel tanks, aged for 24 months exclusively in old old, neutral 228-liter oak barrels. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 14% alcohol. Total production 3000 bottles. Tasted half-blind in a tasting of ten 2015 Saint-Joseph wines.
  
  Deep, dark and fully opaque black cherry color with a subtly evolved maroon hue. The nose feels fragrant, characterful and slightly bretty with layered aromas of saddle leather and barnyard, some floral notes of violets, a little bit of blackberry-driven ripe dark fruit, light earthy notes, a sweet hints of boysenberries and dried bilberries, a touch of crushed peppercorns and a whiff of garrigue. The wine feels ripe, juicy and quite dense on the palate with a full body and intense, quite fruit-driven flavors of fresh bilberries and tart red plums, some funky notes of saddle leather and stable floor, a little bit of gamey meat, light phenolic smoky tones, fragrant hints of violets and garrigue and a touch of ripe blackberry. The wine is quite sinewy and enjoyably structured with its high acidity and quite assertive, moderately grippy tannins. The finish is rich, long and moderately tannic with an intense, dark-toned aftertaste of jammy blackberries and ripe bilberries, some bretty notes of leather saddle and farmhouse funk, light floral nuances of violets, a little bit of fresh dark plum, a sanguine hint of iron and a touch of roasted game or even charred bacon.
  
  A very impressive, intensely fruited and well-structured Saint Joseph that combines vibrant purity of fruit with some rustic, bretty complexity. This wine definitely isn't clean as a whistle, but it is more fruit-driven, slightly higher in acidity and a bit less bretty than 2015 Chave Saint Joseph (which we tasted next to this wine). Comparing these two wines, the standard Saint Joe seems to be more approachable and open-knit in texture at the moment, and while Clos Florentin shows less funk and more intensity of fruit, it also feels somewhat more youthful and structure-driven. I'd say at the moment these wines are more or less at the same level of quality, maybe the standard Saint Joe taking a tiny lead for now, but my hunch is that 2015 Clos Florentin is going to turn out to be a more impressive wine with enough age. Even if liked the wine a lot, the wine received only two points from the ten participants in our tasting, making it finish on shared fourth place. The wine is maybe a bit pricey for the quality at 87€, but maybe things change as the wine ages and evolved.

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  9/19/2021 - acyso wrote:

  Sunday round 2 (Chicago, IL): A very solid bottle of St. Joseph, but I'm not yet convinced this is worth the premium versus the regular Chave St. Joseph. It's possible this is just too young and that the quality difference will be apparent with time, but today, this felt a little clunky and disjoint (sure, it's a bit of an awkward time to be tasting 2015s anyway).

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  8/16/2019 - David Paris (dbp) wrote: 89 Points

  Jean-Louis Chave in person for E&R's 20th Anniversary, with 22 of his wines! (E&R Wine Shop, Portland OR): Very dark color. Aromas are light in flavor, but certainly have a weight to them; just a bit hard to delineate. Soft and pretty on palate entry, with a nice round texture. Thickly fruited, with soft, very voluptuous nature with nice acidity and good cut. Quite darkly complected, though; more so than the regular St. Joseph. Rich acid on the finish, with thick, plummy fruit on the finish, but the acid is what really takes over and carries long into the finish. Feels quite young, but too darkly complected for full enjoyment.

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  10/27/2018 - Nanda wrote: 90 Points

  2015 Northern Rhones Blind: Single blind. Terrific purity and lift in the aromas with lots of polished black fruit, florals and black pepper. Quite fruit forward and plush on the palate. Some chewiness but overall soft in nature and not really showing a depth of structure. Good, but does this have the legs to last? Surprised to see this as the Chave Florentin on reveal.
  
  Night 2 update: Showing quite ripe and even hot. All fruit and no structure. Has not held up well overnight.

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  10/27/2018 - acyso wrote: 90 Points

  Most of the 2015 Northern Rhones worth a damn, blind (Chicago, IL): Served single blind. I think I liked this a little more than others did tonight. This was black-fruited, juicy, and very forward on the palate. Pleasant, with a softer touch, and I thought this was probably one of the lesser producers, given its attenuated complexity and straightforward disposition. Not particularly profound, and with air, some of the oak starts to rear its head.

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