Pleine Lune, from northern Rhone Valley

Saint Joseph is an appellation that is little known in Italy but produces wines that have a pleasing drinkability as their strongpoint, as is the case with this Pleine Lune 2014 from La Ferme Des Sept Lunes. 

The Rhone Valley shows the two faces of French wine being the only area in France that has both continental and Mediterranean climates. The north is a bit like Burgundy with its single-grape wines (in this case Syrah), while the south produces the best Mediterranean wines.

Saint Joseph is an appellation in the northern Rhone Valley that is little known in Italy even though it produces a great quantity of wine, mostly reds, which often have an excellent price/quality ratio. The vineyard land here expanded significantly in the 1970s with the aim of producing a kind of Rhone Beaujolais, since its wine’s winning card is that it can be drunk soon after being made.

Saint Joseph wines rarely lack in body thanks to a dark, granite soil that drains easily yet retains warmth. However, the area suffers from its eastern exposure which cuts sunlight by one to two hours during crucial growing periods compared to zones with better exposures. The result is that these wines rarely last or improve with age. Nevertheless, their fruit component and pleasing drinkability are hard to beat.

Pleine Lune 2014 from La Ferme Des Sept Lunes not only expresses the best of the Syrah fruit but also restores those smoky notes that are the trademark of this exceptional valley and which in the best Hermitage and Côte Rotie reach dramatic heights. But let us come back to Earth and enjoy this bottle.

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