Jean-Baptiste Souillard is a micro-négociant based in the hills above Andance, crafting single-parcel wines from high-altitude, granite-rich sites across the Northern Rhône. Trained as an enologist, with time at Château Latour, Comte Armand, and a Cornas lab, he marries precision with old-world reverence for place. Inspired by the Cistercian method, his philosophy is both technical and spiritual: one parcel, one wine, each cuvée a faithful expression of its origin. In recent years, his wines have earned a cult following among those seeking Rhône wines of depth and restraint. His reds are whole-cluster, savory, and structured for the long haul; his whites are shaped by early oxidation, minerality, and a fine thread of savory tension. These are wines that unfold slowly, but with depth, clarity, and grace.

The name is the parcel itself: nineteen ares, eighty-two centiares, just under half an acre of marsanne that Souillard's grandfather planted in 1973 and 1974 in the lieu-dit Le Bois de Biennier, above the house in Andance. The rows face north and northwest at 300 meters on decomposed granite over shallow bedrock, looking across the river toward the Parc Naturel Régional du Pilat. The site lies within Saint-Joseph, but the wine goes out as Vin de France. Pressed with the clusters whole, cold-settled for a day, then fermented and aged 24 months in used 228-liter barrels through full malolactic conversion, with six further months in stainless steel before bottling.

Thirty months of aging gives the wine a settled, unhurried quality. Preserved lemon and yellow apple lead, then honeysuckle, toasted hazelnut, and a trace of fennel seed, with beeswax filling in as it warms. The north-facing exposure keeps the acidity high and the finish narrow and salty, which is what keeps marsanne of this weight from turning heavy. Drink through 2036.