Saint Joseph

Barbecued beef with dry marinade.

The grapes are sourced from two parcels in St. Joseph: 40-55% of fruit from the St-Jean-de-Muzols (planted in 2003) and 45-60% from the Saint-Désirat (planted in 1988).

The wine is aged in 5-10% new oak and 90% in 1-6 year old casks, for 12 months. The wine is un-fined and filtered.

Most of the grapes are whole cluster fermented, with de-stemming primarily occurring for the Saint-Désirat bunches. Each vineyard is fermented in separate tanks. The juice is pumped over and punched down according to winery practices.

Alain Graillot is well known to wine lovers throughout the world and is universally regarded as one of the most talented producers not only in the Rhône but in the whole of France. What is extraordinary is that he has built his reputation and fame in just 15 short years and in an appellation that was until recently seriously despised by the cognoscenti. He has proved that even (or should we say particularly) from the flat land near the Isère river confluence it is possible to make rich concentrated reds that demonstrate everything that is exciting about the Syrah grape - the explosive black fruit the aromatic intensity the pepper and spice complexity all supported by crisp acidity and good tannins. They are difficult to resist young but patient cellaring is well-rewarded. Graillot began making wine in 1985 having tired of life as Marketing Manager for a large French agricultural equipment company. He was lucky to benefit from the advice of friends such as Paul Jaboulet Jean-Louis Grippat and Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac in Burgundy and immediately struck vinous gold. This led him in 1988 to buy the vineyards he had previously rented to which he has since added land in Saint-Joseph and even a few vines on the Hermitage hill - just enough to make 2 barrels a year! The quality of Graillot wines is now legendary and he has become the father-figure to a whole new generation of young Rhône producers. And if appellations such as Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph now offer some of the best wine values in the Rhône it is in no little part thanks to Alain's groundbreaking work.