Domaine de Gouye Saint-Joseph | 2021 *Leaner Vintage

Domaine de Gouye makes fewer than 600 cases a year, which is mind-boggling. Run by Philippe Desbos, the estate is named for the steep site perched above Saint-Jean-de-Muzols. Most of the vines were planted between the 1950s and 1970s, and the Syrah feels like a living snapshot of another era: old vines on punishing slopes, individually staked and tied by hand, with straw by the family (of course). Everything here is madly traditional, from Philippe’s rustic stone house to his 19th-century vertical press, but the wines are anything but rustic in the glass. Fermented with whole clusters and aged in neutral barrel, the Vieilles Vignes bottling delivers classic Saint-Joseph with heady dark fruits, sweet smoke, and crunchy spice. It’s an exceptional wine for the price. The hardest part is getting any at all. ~Allegra Angelo