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.

This is Souillard's foundational Saint-Joseph, and the one cuvée where the single-parcel rule gives way: syrah from three granite sites in the communes of Sarras, Andance, and Saint-Pierre-de-Bœuf, all east-facing between 250 and 300 meters, planted in the early 1970s and again in the 2000s. 2024 asked more of Northern Rhône growers than any year in recent memory, with record spring rainfall, months of mildew pressure, and a crop rescued by three weeks of sun in August. Fermentation runs two to three weeks on indigenous yeasts, 60 to 100 percent whole cluster, with daily pump-overs, then 13 to 18 months in used barrels, bottled without fining or filtration.

The vintage shows in the best way here: red currant and pomegranate, bay leaf, a twist of rose hip, and the granite salinity that runs through everything Souillard makes. Alcohol is modest, the tannins are fine. Drink through 2032.