2009 Pierre Jean Villa Saint-Joseph "Préface"

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 he started his own domaine from scratch. 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. Préface 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.