2015 M. Chapoutier St. Joseph Les Granits

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 91.4 points

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  1/19/2023 - forceberry wrote: 81 Points

  A single-vineyard Syrah from a biodynamically farmed parcel in Saint-Joseph. Fermented spontaneously and macerated for 5 weeks in 3000-liter concrete tanks. Aged for approx. 20 months in French oak barriques (a combination of new, once used and twice used). 14% alcohol. Tasted half-blind in a tasting of ten 2015 Saint-Joseph wines.
  
  Deep, quite opaque and slightly evolved blackish-red color. The nose feels juicy, rather sweet and moderately oaky with lush aromas of dark plummy fruits and ripe boysenberries, some minty green tones, a little bit of toasty oak spice, light licorice tones, a brambly hint of black raspberry and a touch of blackberry jam. The wine feels big, ripe and rather sweet-toned on the palate with a full body and rich flavors of juicy dark plums, some chocolatey mocha oak tones, a little bit of licorice, light boysenberry jam tones, a hint of gamey meat and a touch of minty lift. The overall feel is quite voluptuous and somewhat on the soft side, thanks to the medium-plus acidity and rather ripe medium tannins. The finish is ripe, juicy and gently grippy with a long, opulent aftertaste of blackberry juice and boysenberry jam, some sweet notes of toasty oak spices, a little bit of minty greenness, light licorice tones, an extracted hint of woody bitterness and a touch of plummy dark fruit.
  
  This turned out to be a stereotypical example of Chapoutier premium wine: lush, soft and sweetly-fruited with too much oak and too little freshness. I was very surprised how remarkably different this wine was from the 2015 Chapoutier Le Clos that we tasted next to each other; Le Clos was impressively structured with the oak aromatics being nothing more than an afterthought, whereas here the oak was noticeably to the fore; the wine was lacking in structure; and the fruit had veered away from vibrant blackberry fruit to more a more generic, plummy and jammy direction. I guess this wine might continue to age and improve from here, but seeing how disappointing the wine is now, I doubt this will become particularly interesting even with extended aging. A rip-off at 117€. In our tasting the wine received only one point from the ten participants, making it finish on shared fifth place.

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  2/11/2022 - scorbett Likes this wine:

  Nose: extremely high-toned red and purple fruit and florals (after about 30 min for the initial oak/whatever to blow off).
  
  Palate: currants, lavender, good grip. Such a baby still.
  
  Not exactly what I look for in a syrah (none of the meat, olive, pepper), but still a fairly fascinating and enjoyable wine. Albeit overpriced for what it delivers.

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  11/20/2021 - apple1813 Likes this wine: 93 Points

  2015 M. Chapoutier St. Joseph Les Granits was ripe, spiced and complex. The developing Syrah was deep ruby in colour with traces of fine sediments. It required two hours of aeration to open up impressive perfume of blackberry, lavender and crushed violet, complemented with black pepper, smoked beef carpaccio, leather and earth.
  
  On the palate, it was dry, intense and full-bodied, boasting high level of structured tannin and medium-high level of balancing acidity. Flavours of blackcurrant, cassis, graphite and crushed rock minerality persisted in a long spiced finish. The alcohol level was at 14%.
  
  The richness and the balance of the successful 2015 vintage was reflected in the glass. It was among the most structured and compact St. Joseph on the market. At least a decade of careful ageing would be beneficial for tannin polymerization and flavour development.
  
  The Syrah vines were cutivated on Les Granits lieu-dit just south of Tournon, consisting of decomposed granite and stones. The grapes were completely destemmed, and fermented on the skin for more than one month. Only the free-run juice was used for this single vineyard cuvée. The wine was aged in new and used casks for sixteen to eighteen months.

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  9/14/2021 - Eriklainen wrote:

  A little quiet. Maturity is setting in. Nice. Barnyard in the background. Smokey plums. Really quite long aftertaste. Nice. But think it was more alive last time I tried it

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  9/19/2020 - adamanko wrote: 93 Points

  Berries, meat, barn, dust, tobacco. This is thick, fullbodied almost chewy. And after two hours it starts to sing. After additional time it's a modern rock anthem - like Van Halens Jump. 92-93

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