Saint Joseph La Dardouille, Darnaud, Emmanuel 2016

The 2016 Saint Joseph Lieu Dit La Dardouille comes from a fabulous terroir (Jean-Louis Chave also works with this vineyard) and was brought up a mix of once- and twice-used demi-muids and barrels. It offers ripe, sexy notes of crème de cassis, violets, and graphite, with subtle new oak covered by beautifully pure fruit. With medium to full-bodied richness and depth, sweet tannins, and a great finish, it's a gem of a Saint Joseph that will be better with 2-3 years of bottle age and cruise for a decade. Hats off to the young Emmanuel Darnaud for another beautiful wine.

(casks) shiny, attractive black with purple robe. The nose is elegant, offers pure black fruits with a little ripe oiliness present. The palate runs with fine content, black berries that glisten well. This has a serene, calm style, is well above average in its quality of fruit and tannin that fit together harmoniously. There is a dainty detail in it. Very attractive St Jo red. 13°. From mid-2018. 2028-31 Nov 2017. 4.5 Stars