

From vines planted 1966 on granite soil at about 300 metres altitude near Tournon. De-stemmed and vinified gently and aged in 600L barrel. Only 1000 bottles made.
Review for 2018
'Quite different in style from the domaine's Crozes bottlings, the 2018 Saint Joseph Pealat comes from the lieu-dit Saint-Joseph. More linear and streamlined on the palate, this medium to full-bodied effort boasts mixed berry flavors and intriguing notions of violets and dried flowers, all framed by wonderfully fine-grained tannins, a silky mouthfeel and a lingering, elegant finish. Drink 2022-2035.' 94 points, Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate, May 2021.
‘Since 2015, the Northern Rhône has seen a string of very good to great vintages. At the moment, I’d put 2015 and 2018 in the “great” category.’
Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate, December 2019.
Gilles Robin
The Robin family have grown grapes in Crozes-Hermitage for generations, but until 1995 they were always sold to the local cooperative in Tain l'Hermitage. Today, Gilles estate bottles his entire production and consistently produces some of the very best wines of this appellation. Gilles has just 15 hectares, however most of those vineyards are fully mature at more than 40 years old.
The estate has several plots of land in the favoured ‘Les Chassis’ district just south of the Hermitage hill. The soils in this area consist of large amounts of smooth pudding stones ‘galets’ and red clay from the route the Rhône river once flowed. These richer clay based soils give a wine that is typically rounder and more generous than from some other areas of the appellation.
Owing to the large amount of mature old vines at this estate most of the wine produced is of the premium “Alberic Bouvet” cuvee. This cuvee is produced from vines averaging 40 years age. Picking is done by hand and yields are kept low at around 38 hl/ha. In the ripest years a small percentage of stems are allowed in the ferment and the wine is aged in barriques (and increasingly in larger 450 litre barrels) for about 15 months with about 15% new barrels used each year.