2015 Saint-Joseph

Yves Gangloff has expanded his estate to a noteworthy eight hectares now, with three hectares in Côte-Rôtie, two and a half in Saint-Joseph and another not-insignificant two and a half in Condrieu. Truth be told, he has outgrown his tiny, stream-side cellar that sits at the very end of an extremely narrow street at the top of the village of Condrieu. He’s a thin guy so he’s able to weave his way carefully through his stacks of barrels but it can be an arduous visit for well-fed, less-agile American visitors. Gangloff called his ‘15s “as easy a vintage to make as I have ever experienced” and he told me that the real work was to keep the wines from “getting too big and too ripe, so working gently and avoiding too much extraction was the job.” He wonders if the wines will really shut down hard, like they do in other big vintages, “because the tannins are in line with the fruit, which is so intense that it can stand up to structure.” These ‘15s remind me quite a bit of his ‘09s, albeit with more energy and bright fruit, not to mention more polished tannins. Gangloff’s wines have developed a rabid international following (he was the first producer to sell out of his wines at the annual Marché aux Vins in Ampuis in January), so interested buyers will need to be on the ball, despite the fact that 2015 produced a healthy crop.