What's Pressoir Drinking?

Edouard Bourgeois
November 3, 2023

I thought it would be timely with La Tablee approaching to share this old picture from my phone. It was taken in 2014 in NYC and this was my first time tasting a bottle from Domaine Pierre Gonon. I vividly remember being blown away by this “simple” vin de pays. Les Iles Feray is a gem, produced from flatter vineyards at the bottom of the slope (between the Route Nationale and the Rhône) and young-vine fruit from hillside vineyards. Although the domaine is known for using a generous amount of whole cluster for the Saint Joseph, Iles Feray is made with mostly destemmed Syrah (50-80%, depending on the vintage). I made it a mission to find wines from Gonon ever since that very first bottle and I was of course amazed when I first tasted the Saint Joseph.

We recently hosted a Pressoir dinner pouring wines exclusively from the domaine and every single vintage was better than the previous one. A rarely seen consistency. I was also fortunate to visit the small domaine in Mauves and Jean, who runs the estate with his brother Pierre, was an extremely gracious host.

I have been wondering why their wines are so good. Is it the massale selection of his Syrah and Serine? The low yields? As often, I think the answer is in the acute feeling the producer gets when farming and making the wine. Jean was explaining for example that there are many manual tasks he and his brother do in the vineyard that are simply skipped over at other domaines. The échalas method is one of them, with a single stake per vine. Less and less people are capable of working that way as this practice requires much labor.

Don’t forget to watch Jean Gonon’s interview from our At Home Session we taped in May 2020. You can find the video on our website