by Patchen Markell » Mon Nov 13, 2017 6:37 pm
A few months back I picked up a few bottles of Domaine du Tunnel (Stéphane Robert) 2015 Saint-Péray "Pur Blanc," a 100% Marsanne supposedly made from a small parcel of very old, possibly pre-Phylloxera vines. I'd tried some of this Domaine's reds (Cornas and Saint-Joseph) at a tasting last year, and didn't immediately find them to my taste (relatively big, lots of wood, at least compared to the other things I was tasting) but I'm glad I let myself be persuaded to get these -- because even given the vintage, and even given that this wine is supposedly usually the larger-scaled and richer of his two Saint-Pérays anyway, I was really impressed by the balance of structure and weight, as well as the concentration of flavor. Rich pear fruit, light spring flowers, a little wax and a little spice, accented but not dominated by wood, all assembled around a core of intense minerality that gives the wine lots of length and depth. This should age very nicely, though it's drinking well enough now that I wish I'd gotten even more. Moreover, this is good enough to make me give the Cornas a second chance in a different context.
cheers, Patchen