2016 Pierre Jean Villa St-Joseph Tilde

The Tildé bottling from Pierre Jean Villa is his old vine cuvée of Saint Joseph, made from a hectare of vines in the northern end of the appellation that were planted between 1963 and 1970. These are hillside vineyards, planted at three hundred meters above sea level, and the wine is raised in a similar combination of older barrels and demi-muids, but with the elevage doubled to twenty-four months from that of the Préface bottling. The 2016 Tildé is a fine example of Saint Joseph, with the inherent elegance and mineral signature of the vintage very much in evidence here. The bouquet offers up a youthful blend of dark berries, pepper, black olive, roasted game, a touch of youthful stems, bonfires and an outstanding base of minerality. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, transparent and youthfully structured, with a good, solid core of fruit, excellent soil signature, ripe, firm tannins and fine focus and grip on the long, primary and very well-balanced finish. This needs four or five years in the cellar to properly blossom, but the constituent components here are excellent and this is going to be a very good bottle with a bit of age. Drink 2024-2050. 91 points

Opaque ruby. Fresh blackberry and boysenberry aromas are complicated by pungent floral and smoky mineral notes. Sappy, appealingly sweet dark berry and cherry flavors show sharp delineation and pick up a spicy quality with air. Finishes with bright, energetic cut, slowly building tannins and lingering sweetness. 92 points