M. Chapoutier, Saint-Joseph, Le Clos 2011

Similarly styled and getting an awesome wine in the notes, the 2011 Saint Joseph Les Clos shows that this vineyard is for real. Creme de cassis, licorice, crushed rock, graphite and pepper all show in the glass, and it hits the palate with full-bodied richness and depth, crazy purity and blockbuster length. It too is possibly the wine of the vintage and certainly, one of the finest Saint Josephs I've ever tasted.

A new cuvee is the 2011 St.-Joseph Le Clos. A truly magnificent wine, it ranks alongside the Vignes de l’Hospice of Marcel and Philippe Guigal as well as the St.-Josephs from Delas and J. L. Chave. An inky/purple color is followed by hints of graphite, blackberries, blueberries and smoke in this gorgeously proportioned, full-bodied, multidimensional wine. It should drink well for 15+ years.

In November of this year, Michel Chapoutier finally made the cover of The Wine Spectator. The accompanying article said essentially the same things I had written about over twenty years ago. More importantly, I am thrilled that Chapoutier received this attention because it has long been deserved. History will record that Michel Chapoutier is a revolutionary.

He is also a highly emotional man whose infectious love of primitive art, historic books, classical music and, of course, terroir and winemaking are seemingly impossible to harness. Michel Chapoutier was among the first in France to embrace the radical biodynamic agricultural teachings, for which he was initially criticized, but is now praised.

He was also the first to print all his labels in Braille, something that cynics considered to be a gimmick, but ask the National Association for the Blind what they think. Coming from a famous family, but moving in a direction unlike any of its previous members, Michel Chapoutier is self-taught. What he has accomplished over the last two decades or more is one of the great wine stories of the modern era.