ST JOSEPH ROUGE. J C Marsanne, Rhone, France.

The Marsanne family, as they are aptly named, has a deep-rooted history in the North Rhône, and are based in Mauves, the origin of the Saint-Joseph appellation. In 1920 Jean-Pierre Marsanne became the first in the family to work on their vineyards. In those early days he sold his grapes onto local négociants.

After his death in 1950 his son Jean took over and the Domaine grew to 3 hectares in size. They stopped selling grapes and made their own wines from 1970 – and have never looked back. Today the estate is run by Jean-Claude Marsanne and has grown to 9.6has in size, almost exclusively devoted to Syrah although there is also a small parcel of Marsanne from which they make a St Jospeh Blanc.

All work and harvesting are done by hand on steep sloped granite hillsides. Jean-Claude uses natural yeasts in fermentation and the 2016 St Joseph is from 7 separate plots with an average age of 60 years. Destemmed and fermented in stainless steel then aged for 12-15 months in a mix of standard barrique sized French oak (25%) and larger (double sized barrels) (75%). Oak is very much in the background for their wines.

Aged in The Old Bridge cellars this is now drinking beautifully – medium bodied with lovely precise notes of blackberry and peppery spice, crisp acidity, fine grained tannins, and a savoury finish. For lovers of Syrah (Shiraz) this is a fine example of the grape at its most delicate and refined.

Drink now but could be aged for its 10^th birthday too.