2018 Saint-Joseph Dardouille, Domaine Emmanuel Darnaud

The single vineyard 2018 Saint Joseph Lieu Dit La Dardouille from Darnaud comes from a south-facing site located south of Tournon, in the southern part of the appellation. Its deep purple color is followed by a smoking bouquet of a cassis, blackberries, graphite, toasted spice, crushed flowers, and roasted meats. This fleshy, full-bodied, powerful Saint Joseph has a wonderful purity of fruit, ripe tannins, and a plush, sexy texture that keeps you coming back to the glass. It's up with the top wines in the vintage and will benefit from short-term cellaring and drink well for upwards of a decade. The young Emmanuel Darnaud is unquestionably one of the most talented winemakers in Crozes Hermitage. I'd call him a rising superstar, but I think he is already there.

Despite coming in at 15.2% alcohol, the 2018 Saint Joseph La Dardouille shows absolutely no alcohol-derived heat. With accents of crushed stone, pencil shavings and violets layered over deep cassis and blueberry fruit, this wine should prove outstanding. It's full-bodied, concentrated and richly textured, with a long, vibrant and intensely-flavored finish that also manages to be elegant. Wow. Drink Date 2021-2033. // When I visited Emmanuel Darnaud this year, he remained steadily upbeat, despite the hailstorms that ravaged his (and others') Crozes-Hermitage vineyards earlier in the season. "The hail came at a 'good' time," he said. "We lost this year's crop, but it allowed the vines to set new leaves and recover." He didn't think it would have a major impact on 2020. For 2017 and 2018, Darnaud said it was important not to pick too late, to keep temperatures down during fermentation, and to extract gently to retain finesse in the wines. He's experimenting more and more with whole-cluster fermentations and likes the results so far. "I'm not ready to say it should all be whole cluster, but it can add some freshness and finesse," he said. Personally, I was blown away by the aromatics and texture shown by the 100% whole-cluster trials that he offered for tasting. While known predominantly for his outstanding red wines, fans of Marsanne should make the effort to track down Darnaud's limited production (three barrels each) of white Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph. There likely won't be much Darnaud wine from the 2019 vintage, so buy the wines while you can. - Joe Czerwinski.