Jean-Baptiste Souillard Cornas Saint-Pierre 2018 (750ML)

17.5 JR

So savoury and yet so full of dark fruit. Deep, firmly tannic but such refined texture. A little more approachable – with food – than the 2019s but still a long way to go. Charry, meaty savour, black fruit that is rich without sweetness. Great Cornas. - Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson .com

• Size: 0.1 ha (0.25 ac)
• Variety: Syrah
• Vine Age: Planted in the early 1970s and 2000s
• Terroir: Moderate slope, facing south. Deep gravelly-sandy soils on granite bedrock. Cool site that is picked later than most Cornas. 400-meters elevation.
• Viticulture: Lutte raisonnée
• Vinification: Indigenous yeast fermentation, pump-overs. Aged for 20 months in older oak barrels, unfined, unfiltered.

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. Home base is a modest farmhouse that was purchased by Jean-Baptiste’s great grandfather in 1900.

Jean-Baptiste Souillard happens to be a nerdy, extremely serious young winemaker, who has set out to produce glorious vins de garde. His wines are like nothing else we’ve had from the Northern Rhône —at least recently. The two whites we have selected to begin with, courtesy of granite, of higher altitude, and of Jean-Baptiste’s tendency to pick just before they over-ripen, are incredibly fresh. They are floral rather than rich and honeyed. And on the palate, for these varieties and this region, they have unusual coolness and minerality. As to the reds, they are absolutely captivating. In this first vintage, though they are unmistakably Syrah, there is none of the primary violets and black fruit, nor any of the bacon. They are so much more than that. - Becky Wasserman & Co.