Saint-Joseph Rouge, Le Grand Pompée, Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2022
James Suckling 91; Highly Commended, The Wine Merchant Top 100 2025
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Why this wine
Saint-Joseph is where the northern Rhône becomes affordable without becoming anonymous, and Le Grand Pompée is Jaboulet's long-standing version of it. Granite and schist terraces, hand-picked fruit and twelve months in barrel, at 13% - peppery Syrah in its classic register.
At a glance
- Grape
- Syrah
- Region
- Rhône Valley, France
- Alcohol
- 13.00%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- Medium
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Medium (5-10 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Poultry & Pork, Cheese
How it tastes
Wild redcurrant and raspberry, layered with peppery spice and a mineral edge. Beautifully balanced and medium-weight, dry, with fine tannins rather than grip, and a year in French oak barrels showing as texture more than flavour. Syrah 100%.
The producer
Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné was founded in 1834 and works the iconic terroirs of the northern Rhône across seven appellations; the Frey family have owned it since 2006, with Caroline Frey as winemaker, and they keep a nine-hectare wildlife reserve on the estate. The Saint-Joseph vineyard runs along steep hillsides on the right bank of the Rhône, carved into terraces since ancient times; it was known as Vin de Mauves until the Jesuits gave it its present name in the 17th century, growers formed a union to protect that name in the 20th, and the appellation became official in 1956. The cuvée takes its name from Victor Hugo's Légende des Siècles, in which the Grand Pompée, faithful companion to Charlemagne, fought the Moors on the right bank of the Rhône - 'And wine, that wine beloved of the Grand Pompée'. The parcels face south-east on schist and granite, which bring density and texture; the vines are ten to thirty years old, yield 35 hl/ha and are picked by hand, sorted, then macerated for three weeks with daily pump-overs before twelve months in French oak barrels. The 2022 followed a winter with a significant rainfall deficit and a late budburst, but growth accelerated, flowering came in May and cluster closure by the end of June, making it one of the three earliest vintages in twenty years; the summer was mostly hot and dry, broken by one stormy spell, and the wines are rich and concentrated with beautiful colour.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16-17°C. It suits roast pork, duck, grilled lamb chops and semi-hard cheeses. Drink over the next three to five years; half an hour in a decanter helps it open. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.