M. Chapoutier, Saint-Joseph, Le Clos 2020

It's always fun to taste the Les Granits next to the Le Clos, as the wines are dramatically different. The 2020 Saint Joseph Le Clos comes from a higher elevation, more east-facing site, and the alcohol is always a touch lower here, checking in at 13.6%, with the Les Granits being 14.1%. Closed and tight aromatically, it slowly offers up pure cassis, mulberry, and scorched earth-like aromatics, and I always find a Hermitage-like regalness in this wine. Full-bodied, pure, utterly seamless, concentrated, and with a great finish, this is as classy and refined as Saint Joseph gets. Hide bottles for 4-5 years if you can and enjoy over the following two decades. It's one of the greatest Saint Josephs out there.

Glass-staining ruby. Potent kirsch, blackcurrant, olive and licorice qualities on the highly perfumed, spice- and mineral-accented nose. Stains the palate with alluringly sweet black and blue fruit liqueur, spicecake and violet pastille flavors that are underscored by a vein of smoky minerality. Shows outstanding finesse for its power and structure and finishes very long and smoky with building tannins adding framework and closing grip.