Six Rhône-grape Wines from There and Here
Notable wines from Lionel Faury, Château Pesquié, and Troon Vineyard
Welcome back to Notable, where twice a month I share the best wines of recent tasting.
Our focus today is on Rhône varieties, vinified both in their native territory and abroad. There is a gorgeous St.-Joseph Rouge from Faury, in the northern Rhône, and a Ventoux from organic Château Pesquié in the south, plus four wines from Troon, a regenerative organic producer in southern Oregon: Amphora Amber Vermentino, Amphora Grenache, Amphora Mourvèdre, and a Rhône-style blend called Druid’s Red.
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Lionel Faury Saint-Joseph Rouge 2019
14% ABV | About $37; we purchased this bottle in 2022 for $32. Faury is imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant.
Saint-Joseph is a rangy terroir stretching for fifty kilometers along the northern Rhône’s right bank. The vines cling to steep hillsides on the eastern flank of the Massif Centrale, and soils are granite in various stages of disrepair.
Jean Faury began farming in Chavanay, at the northern end of the Saint-Joseph appellation, in 1950. He raised livestock and planted tree fruits and grapes, selling some wine in bulk (en vrac) to local bistros. His son, Philippe, who succeeded him in 1979, gradually phased out the fruit trees and invested in higher quality viticulture and winemaking. Philippe’s son, Lionel, took over the estate in 2006 at the tender age of 23.
Today Lionel farms in Saint-Joseph, Condrieu, and Côte-Rôtie, following lutte raisonnée. Syrah is his cornerstone, and he bottles two different Côte-Rôtie, two Saint-Joseph Rouge, and two Syrah Collines Rhodaniennes IGP. He also produces a Condrieu and a Saint-Joseph Blanc, the latter a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne. Case production is about 7,000 annually.
Lionel Faury’s wines are serious, self-assured, confidently old-school but never rustic. The higher-tier Saint-Joseph, “La Gloriette,” comes from three vineyards planted in the 1950s. This wine, the basic Saint-Joseph, is grown on younger Syrah, planted between 1979 and 2007. It spends about a year in a mix of wooden vessels, from foudre to barrique, only 10 percent new. Faury is not a fan of young wood.
