2003 Saint-Joseph Blanc Le Berceau

This domain has been a well-kept secret in the American market, as the Gripas have for decades sold the vast majority of their wines in France, particularly in the local market between Lyon and Valence. Even today, the Gripas export just 8% of their production, according to Fabrice Gripa. Moreover, the family has made a specialty of white wines through the years:fully 40% of their 12 hectares are devoted to white grapes. While much of this white wine is from Saint-Peray, Gripa also believes the family's Saint-Joseph terroirs are better suited for white wine production than for red. He describes 2003 as "an overripe vintage that produced half a normal crop. The berries started to shrivel and dry out, and they gave black fruit aromas and atypically high sugars. We tried to retain fruit by doing a gentle extraction in open-top fermenters, doing pigeage by foot. "He added that the estate usually vinifies with whole clusters, but destemmed 70% in 2003. The reds are done in pieces and demi-muids, while the estate's top two whites spend a full year in barriques. The 2003 reds had just been bottled at the time of my visit, but they had not yet had a chance to shut down.