Jean Baptiste Souillard Saint Joseph 2019

New beautiful red staff pick from the legendary Becky Wasserman portfolio. Jean-Baptiste Souillard’s winery is located in the hills above Andance, a quiet town on the right bank of the Rhône at a halfway point between Ampuis and Tain-l’Hermitage. About Andance, Wikipedia is laconic: it has the oldest suspension bridge (1827) still in use on the Rhône; its population (1,126) is aging; it was mentioned (alongside 100 other towns) in a poem by Louis Aragon about a young man leaving his village to join the resistance. Home base is a modest farmhouse that was purchased by Jean-Baptiste’s great grandfather in 1900. Jean-Baptiste is little by little adapting his family's farm into a winery: converting one room into an office and another into a space to have tastings with clients. He has moved all of his barrels into the old stable (naturally chilly as it faces north) so that the aging of his wines takes place entirely in this cave so well-suited for the task. A stone marker dates the oldest part of the cellar to 1827, just like the bridge, but he thinks that parts of the house may go back to the 17th century.

Jean-Baptiste’s wines are beautiful examples of the Northern Rhône. The whites hail from granite vineyards planted at high altitude. They are fresh and floral with coolness and minerality. The reds are equally captivating. They are unmistakably Syrah with savory, salty flavors, bright acidity and great structure. We fell in love with this Syrah here as well as his Marsanne white. Jean-Baptiste uses whole cluster pressing and vinifies in stainless steel tanks. Pressing is done is small vertical presses. Wines are aged in older barrels only. Jean-Baptiste likes to rack. The reds are unfined and unfiltered.