A Perfectionist within Reach
2009 Chave St. Joseph Offerus
"One of the finest examples of this cuvee Chave has yet made"
-Robert Parker
This is a bottle for those nights that Jean-Louis Chave's $200-$900+ Hermitage feels like a bit of overkill, no matter how good the meatloaf is.
There is simply no one family that has had more experience with Syrah (the Chaves have been in the RhĂ´ne since 1481) and no one coaxes more intensity, more complexity, more refinement from Syrah.
Today we present what is nothing less than a benchmark wine for the store in one of the greatest vintages of the last few decades.
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The 2009 Chave St. Joseph "Offerus" is an affordable blockbuster, a mini-tour-de-force of what the Northern RhĂ´ne can be in all its glory. (And this glory is comparable, have no doubt at all, to what the Southern RhĂ´ne and its famous CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne and Chateauneuf-du-Pape can produce).
The 2009 "Offerus" is both plush and nervy, layered with black fruits and flowers, olives, violets, spice and forest floor notes wrapped around a smoke-infused minerality. Parker's full, and impressive, note is below.
There are certainly few wines that have garnered such a loyal following and while this is a wine with a price tag that suggests an-easy-to-open weekday wine (which it most definitely is), in the mega-2009 vintage, this is an affordable, cellar-able wine.
Stock up and enjoy over the next 10 years, easily.
With Jean-Louis Chave, there are just no short cuts, no compromise. He is responsible for a reputation that goes back a few hundred years and he takes this very seriously. His Hermitage is one of the most collectible bottles in the RhĂ´ne and it's everything you'd expect, yet the more-affordable bottles like his "Offerus" show a truly uncommon finesse - though this isn't exactly the right word.
The wine is integrated, balanced... it's seamless without being too precious. The "Offerus" allows us to engage Chave with all of his skill in a more playful and down to earth realm - there is a beautiful honesty, a lack of pretense to the "Offerus" which makes it.. well, gulpable.
This is a wine that encourages you to just enjoy it; to pull the cork and pour it to a group of friends with a nice leg of lamb or piece of beef and take pleasure in the whole experience.
For the value, for the great vineyards on display, and most of all, for a glimpse of a great winemaker at work; Chave's 2009 St. Joseph Offerus is not to be missed.
The "Offerus" is in stock - and ready for the upcoming weekend... or, Wednesday night meatloaf? To order, please email us at offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits
Robert Parker: One of the finest examples of this cuvee Chave has yet made, the 2009 St.-Joseph Offerus is performing fabulously well from bottle. Produced from purchased grapes grown on the hillsides behind the village of Mauves as well as from further north on the hillsides above Tournon and St.-Jean de Muzols, this St.-Joseph reveals copious aromas of licorice, bay leaf, bouquet garni, roasted meats, black cherries and raspberries. It possesses an attractive texture as well as lots of fleshy, fat flavors, and good acidity and freshness. It, too, should drink nicely for a decade.