ALAIN GRAILLOT ST JOSEPH 2023

Maxime and Antoine Graillot continue their late father Alain's legacy at this practicing organic domaine in Crozes-Hermitage, where 30-plus-year-old Syrah vines in Les Chênes Verts are hand-harvested and fermented 100% whole cluster on indigenous yeasts in concrete before aging in one-to-three-year-old Burgundy barrels—the same approach Alain established after his apprenticeship with Jacques Seysses at Domaine Dujac in 1985. The 2023 scores 94 points (James Suckling): dark cherry, spiced plum, wild herbs, pencil shaving, and licorice with fine tannins, salty iodine minerality, and a long, vivid finish.