… going .. going Gonon!

´´Established in the heart of Saint-Joseph in 1956, this family-owned estate stands as a beacon of excellence, crafting exceptional wines that echo the beauty of the land from which they come.´´

The Gonon family have been tending to their vineyards over the decades, cultivating a deep understanding of the local soil, climate, and grape varieties. Their unwavering commitment to organic and biodynamic farming practices allows the vines to thrive naturally, leading to fruit with unrivaled purity and expression. All vineyards have been farmed organically since 2004.

With great care and meticulous attention to detail, each grape is carefully hand-harvested, ensuring only the finest clusters make their way into the cellar. Extensive pruning keeps yields low and quality high. Pierre Gonon’s winemaking philosophy focuses on minimal intervention, allowing the true character of the grapes and terroir to shine through. The Gonon brothers farm and vinify in the old-school style. They work their ten hectares of land entirely by hand, the steep grade and narrow spacing making mechanization impossible in most parcels.

Pierre Gonon’s wines have garnered global recognition among sommeliers, critics, and enthusiasts alike, earning praise for their authenticity, balance, and age-worthiness.

The Syrah grape can count no less than four Northern Rhône areas as truly providential. One, of course, is the renowned Hermitage. The other three are Côte Rôtie, Cornas and St. Joseph and are less well-known but their best wines can rival anything their famous neighbor can turn out.

And in the latter half of the twentieth century, each had a small grower as it´s vinous-spiritual leader: Marius Gentaz, Noël Verset, and Raymond Trollat, respectively.

Fortunately, each of these icons also had at least one natural heir: a younger winemaker who has preserved their classic ideas, producing wine of comparable expression and purity. Raymond Trollat’s heirs, as Trollat told us himself several years ago, are the Gonon brothers.

The brilliance and traditionalism of Pierre and Jean Gonon’s wines is only recently becoming widely understood. Until four to five years ago, their wines were a well kept secret of a small circle of wine insiders.

What these connoisseurs knew was that the brothers’ classic methods taught to them by their father Pierre and applied to the domaine’s holdings in St. Joseph’s perfectly capture the appellation’s wild and savory, yet fresh and mineral character with great purity, in both rouge and blanc.

With Bernard Gripa and Jean-Louis Chave, Gonon is one of the last remaining old school St. Joseph growers based in the original appellation around Tournon, Mauves and St-Jean-de-Muzols. And the brother’s unwavering adherence to the old ways, as well as the fact that they still work Trollat’s old vineyard, is why they are St. Joseph’s champions of traditionalism today.

Like Trollat, Pierre and Jean learned directly from the previous generations, and have seen no reason to change. The Gonon vineyards are all located in St. Joseph’s granite heart, distinct from the rest of the appellation as the extension of the Hermitage hill, separated from it by the Rhône.

The brothers still work their vines organically, plowing by horse on the steep slopes, with all new plantings a sélection massale from their old vines, and yields are kept low through ruthless pruning.

The brother’s St. Joseph “Les Oliviers” blanc comes from the Coteau des Oliviers, 200 meters above Tournon, where their father Pierre first planted Marsanne in 1958, followed by Roussanne in 1974.

As Rhône guru John Livingstone-Learmonth notes “the two combine extremely well,” the Roussanne’s hightoned complexity leavening the Marsanne’s richness. Through old vines and Olivier’s pebble studded clay soil, co-fermented and aged in neutral foudre, the Gonon St. Joseph blanc seamlessly blends power and nuance in a white easily capable of two decades of development.

In contrast, the Gonon St. Joseph rouge is sourced from all three of the main original St. Joseph villages. Two of the primary lieux-dits are Tournon’s Oliviers and Mauve’s Montagnon. The third is Trollat’s 1915 Aubert planting in St-Jean-de-Muzols, purchased from him upon his retirement.

As Jean Gonon told Livingstone-Learmonth, these diverse sites provide the brothers with “a good spread of soils and exposures,” which they masterfully blend into a marvel of depth, nuance and structure through time-honored methods: up to three weeks  whole-cluster fermentation in open wooden vats, with both pumpovers and punchdowns for extraction, followed by just over a year’s aging in old 600-liter foudre.

On rare occasions only four times since the first vintage in 2006, the brothers bottle a separate St. Joseph ‘Vieilles Vignes’ cuvée, all from the old Trollat vines. A remarkably complete St. Joseph combining power and depth with nuanced finesse, it’s less than a 600 bottle a year production, and of course makes it almost impossible to find!

Lastly, there is the delicious Les Îles Feray, from 30-year-old Syrah vines on the plain outside the appellation, augmented according to the year by the St. Joseph lots “we don’t consider merits going into the main St Joseph red.” Made along the same lines, though destemmed and with no punchdowns for more gentle tannins, it is a seductive Gonon wine to enjoy while the more seriously-structured Grand Vin ages.

The purity and distinctive character of their wines, achieved through great terroirs and absolute commitment to their ancestor’s methods, has brought Pierre and Jean widespread recognition as the Second Coming of Trollat’s classic St. Joseph.

We tasted Gonon’s 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 2017 & 2018 vintages of St Joseph rouge last night, and I can safely report in the order of tasting:

2010 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
Black & blue fruits abound. Purple hue with notes of star anise, freshly crushed black pepper corns. Intense cherry and fine grained tannins combine a sublime balance. Looooong! finish

2012 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
Black raspberry nose, ruby. The softest of tannins opens up to a floral dark fruit, mineral yet vegetal. Laser beam cherry-licorice flavours.

2013 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
Dark fruits and floral licorice. Blackberries and Christmas cake (without the icing!). Soft soft tannins. Amazing wine!

2014 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
Ruby ruby red. Black olive nose with Blue fruit flavours. Elegance and power all in one glass. Mourish tannins.

2015 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
Dark minerality, blue flowers and an almost Garam Masala light nuance. Bitter cherry acidity surrounded by a herbal garden. Huge wine and will need some time. Lovely!

2016 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
A big dark raspberry nose. Spicey dark red berries and balanced soft tannins show off a serious red wine with a big big finish.

2017 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph
Dark dark colour, inky red. Star anise nose and black olive hints. Raspberry and blueberry abound. Soft tannins hold everything together. Remarkable wine!

2018 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Sant-Joseph
The last wine of the evening was the youngest. Contra to Edmondo Penning-Rowsell’s very good Block & Block advice to us youngsters back in the day. ”Always start with the youngest wine and end with the oldest wine” 

There was of course a good reason for my decision to taste in reverse. We were not in a rush and we wanted to reverse the tasting once done, hence we went back through all the wines from youngest to oldest on the second sitting. Superb!  2018 vintage offered dark violets and the darkest of dried fruits. Spices and licorice harmonized into a cassis & peppery mix. Young soft tannins supporting this wine that will have a tremendous future,  like all the wines we tasted this evening from this domaine. The future, if you have the patience to cellar some, looks very Gonon. The two whites that we sipped on upon arrival where Gonon’s Chasselas, almost impossible to find, and the Marsanne (80%) Roussanne (20%) blend.

2018 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph Blanc, ‘Les Oliviers’:  Straw yellow, honey & lemon peel nose. An incredible balance of peach, mandarine and ripe pineapple. Silky finish and I need more, preferably in magnums

2018 Domaine Pierre Gonon, Chasselas, Vin De France: Chamomile and lemony nose. Bon dry orange, pear and peach with a tangy floral finish.

We have all of these vintages available in stock today. Please refer to our wine list for prices & availability: https://www.worldwineconsultants.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/July-2024-Finest-Rarest-Offer-3.pdf

Many thanks are due to LCB VT, Mannie B., DHL Express, JIA & copas Zalto for their positive contributions to these notes and the great tasting. – July 2024 –

World Wine Consultants SA