Tardieu-Laurent, St. Joseph "Vieilles Vignes" 2003

Deep red.

Opened yesterday. Utterly sexy/savory nose of wood smoke/spices, smoked meat, molasses, grilled herbs and black fruit.

Round and mouth-filling with simultaneous acid-driven structure framing and focusing palate impression. Really loaded and expressive at the same time. And structured to the hilt - acid/tannin constriction really shuts down the mouth in the finish - though smoked meat, herb flavors manage to ride through. RFG, but I'd be careful about cellaring this more than another 3-5 years. Tardieu-Laurent did a very good job in the very hot 2003 vintage. Lots of very highly rated 2003 wines from the northern Rhone seem dead/flat to me, albeit wildly concentrated.


$35. 100% Syrah