france: rhone
Domaine Pierre Jean Villa, Saint Joseph
Pierre Jean Villa is a solid, well-built man, and maybe that’s why he gravitates toward elegance in wine. He came from the Rhône Valley but learned to make wine in Burgundy, which may also explain his bent for finesse. He first learned the ropes working at Mommessin’s Clos de Tart. After Boisset bought the Mommessin firm, Pierre Jean worked in Beaujolais and then for three years at Domaine de la Vougeraie with Pascal Marchand.
In 2003 he returned to the Rhône and became the manager for Vins de Viennes. This is the company that Yves Cuilleron, Pierre Gaillard, and François Villard created to resurrect the ancient vineyard area around Vienne, as well as to do business as a négociant. Pierre Jean became the fourth partner, and for seven years he was responsible for administration and winemaking at the firm. The other partners had their own domaines to run; Vins de Viennes was Pierre Jean’s bailiwick, and he made it what it is today.
In 2009, after a lot of thought, he handed in his keys and started his own domaine from scratch. He began with parcels in St Joseph, Condrieu, and Côte-Rôtie, plus he had a parcel in Vienne for his Vin de Pays de Seyssuel. He made his first vintage at Domaine Jean-Michel Gerin while converting an abandoned fruit processing building in Chavenay into a winery.
Stylistically, his wines are, in the best sense, modern: clean, pure, deep, mineral and elegant. They emphasize depth of fruit without any heavy-handed oak or extractive treatment.
The Wines
- Saint Joseph blanc "Saut de L’Ange": A lovely, dense 100% Roussanne coming from three parcels in the northernmost section of the appellation totaling 0.7 hectares, or just under two acres. It’s made in 600-liter demi-muid barrels and is normally bottled without filtration. The name—Angel’s Leap, or Swan Dive—comes from one of the parcels growing on a steep hillside that ends at a cliff above his winery.
- Saint Joseph "Préface": This is the first red cuvée of the domaine, a rich wine with an excellent core of Syrah fruit, and sets the tone (hence its name). At roughly 1,000 cases, it’s the largest production. This is made in a mixture of 225-liter and 600-liter barrels and if possible is bottled without fining or filtration. The vineyard parcels total two hectares, or five acres.
- Saint Joseph "Tildé" This is the old vine cuvée made from four parcels planted in 1963, 64, 65, and 1970 in the northern part of the appellation. Total vineyard surface is one hectare, or 2.5 acres. Depending on the year, however, some is declassified into Préface. Like its sibling, this is made in a mixture of large and small barrels and if possible is bottled without fining or filtration. Pierre Jean’s father came from Spain, and the word Tildé refers to the Spanish accent mark ˜ which forms the logo on Pierre Jean’s labels.
- Vin de Pays de Seyssuel "Esprit d’Antan": This dark, brooding, fruity beast comes from a tiny parcel on the left bank of the Rhône growing in schist that dominates this side of the river (the right bank is dominated by granite). This is the ancient vineyard area north of Vienne that the Romans cultivated, and may indeed have been the origins of the northern Rhône viticulture. Esprit d’Antan, or spirit of a past time, refers to this. Pierre Jean raises the wine entirely in 600-liter barrels and makes about 1,500 bottles each year.
- Côte-Rôtie "Carmine": He has two parcels in this AC: an old vine parcel (1959 and 1964 plantings) measuring 0.5 hectare, or an acre and a quarter, plus 1.5 hectares, or just under four acres of younger vines in the northern half of the AC. All of this is Syrah except for two lonely vines of Viognier that somehow got planted by accident, and these grapes are tossed into the vat. The Côte-Rôtie is made just like the St Joe reds in a mix of small and large barrels and bottled if possible without fining or filtration. This wine has a great deal of breed. www.pierre-jean-villa.com
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