Domaine Verzier, Empreinte, St-Joseph 2020 (13%)

£29.70 Christopher Piper POA $

Beaune Imports, Eagle Eye Imports

It was the fragrance, elegance, swish, verve and classicism of St-Joseph that fought its way through to Best in Show this year. If you love the mouthwateringly smoky, ham-bone-and-flowers allure of northern Rhône Syrah, then dig into a glassful of this 2020 wine and see it personified. The wine is neither plump nor texturally rich on the palate; what it does do, rather, is take that perfumed fresh fruit and run with it to hypnotic (and mouthwatering) effect. You’ll find brighter acidity here than in most northern Rhône white wines, paradoxically, but that acidity is ripe, vivid and resonant: perfect structuring for a wine that is clearly best enjoyed as soon as possible.

‘Our story begins in 1828 when my family bought this farm,’ explains Domaine Verzier’s 28-yearold co-owner, director and winemaker Maxime Verzier. ‘All my ancestors were poor farmers growing cereals and fruits, with some cows and goats for milk. Like every farm here in the northern Rhône, vines were planted but often just to sell the grapes to the cooperative cellar.’

Maxime’s great-grandfather was the first to venture into winemaking – ‘one barrel every year, for private consumption’, according to Maxime. Family interest waned, however, until Maxime’s father – with the farm losing money – threw his lot into its 2ha of St-Joseph vineyards. Occasionally he would plant more parcels, including the plot that gave rise to Empreinte, and which, like the entire estate, is now farmed along organic and biodynamic principles.

‘The average age of the vineyard is 30 years, and it’s now starting to make profound and complex wine,’ says Maxime. ‘It is at the top of the slope, which is dry and windy. The granite soil is poor, full of rocks and sand, so the vines often suffer during summer – and that’s why it makes aromatically complex wines with a mineral, terroir imprint. I like to make wines of purity, without frills,’ he concludes.