Pierre Gonon, Saint-Joseph (Rhône Valley, France) 2015

 I drank this wine last month with dinner at the delightful bistro, Le Villaret, in Paris, and it knocked my proverbial socks off.  Multi-layered, with intriguing echoes of bacon, black pepper, and barnyard-rich earth intermingled with deep, dark but definitely fresh fruit flavors, it was as compelling a bottle of wine as any I have enjoyed this year.  I since have learned that Pierre Gonon’s wines have something of a cult following in the northern Rhône.  Monsieur Ganon passed the operation of his winery to his sons back in 1989, and if this bottle is any indication, they produce wines of impeccable pedigree.  Very little gets imported into the US, and prices quickly become inflated.  The price indicated here is an average of what’s being asked by the few retailers with stock in the USA, and $135 for Saint-Joseph borders on the absurd, but the wine itself is simply superb.