2016 St Joseph La Sensonne
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Saint Joseph La Sensonne is brought up all in new barrels, but it's barely noticeable in the wine due to the wealth of fruit and overall balance. Loaded with notions of crème de cassis, spiced blackberries, ground herbs, violets, and pepper, this beauty hits the palate with full-bodied richness, terrific intensity, a flamboyant texture, and a great finish. It’s a ripe, sexy wine that needs 2-4 years to shed its baby fat and will keep for a decade or more. It's rocking stuff! One of the rising stars in the appellation, Domaine Coursodon is run by the young, talented Jérôme Coursodon, who’s a fifth-generation winemaker and started at his family estate in 1999 after traveling and working abroad. Today, the estate covers 38 acres, all in the southern part of Saint Joseph, near the village of Mauves and Tournon. Coursodon makes up to four separate Saint Joseph reds and two whites, with the reds seeing close to 100% destemming and aging in a combination of demi-muids and Burgundy barrels. Readers looking for some of the best Saint Josephs out there need to get on this estate’s bandwagon.
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Aged in 100% new oak and selected from the estate's oldest vines, the 2016 Saint Joseph la Sensonne reveals cedar and vanilla shadings on the nose, plus attractive raspberry and cherry fruit. It's full-bodied and concentrated, with a rich, creamy mouthfeel followed by a long, slightly astringent (from wood tannins) finish. Give it a year or so to shake off the rough edges and drink it over the next decade or so.
(all new oak) Bright purple. Smoke-accented black and blue fruits, cola, violet and licorice on the highly perfumed, expansive nose. Appealingly sweet, mineral-accented cassis and boysenberry flavors show superb depth and pick up a sexy floral quality with aeration. Displays impressive detail and mineral lift on the youthfully tannic, extremely persistent finish, which features resonating blue fruit and licorice notes.
Smoked meat, rich black fruit and a lovely toasty aroma that gives lovely complexity to the palate. Juniper bitterness on the finish. Serious and savoury, but also delicious and thirst-quenching. (RH)