Jean Baptiste Souillard Crozes-Hermitage 2021

Jean Baptiste Souillard Crozes-Hermitage 2021 
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. Jean-Baptiste was born in 1982. His father was the director of the Cave de Saint-Desirat, the major wine cooperative in the region. He had his own vineyards though, and frequently walked through them with his son. It was never a question for Jean-Baptiste: even very young he knew he would one day make wine.

Though Jean-Baptiste didn’t do particularly well in high school, he piled up eight years of wine-related studies, obtaining six diplomas and degrees with honors, including the DNO (National Enology Diploma). His internships in France were spent, among others, at Château Latour in Pauillac, and at Comte Armand in Pommard, where he worked with Benjamin Leroux. Like most French enology students, he also wanted to experience the new world, so he interned in Australia and New Zealand too. It appears that he didn’t care much for summer vacations; his résumé indicates they were spent working at a store and wine bar in Ampuis.

Because his wines are anything but modern or enological, Jean-Baptiste would rather not talk about his time as an enologist: he understands that to some, it is a four-letter word. But his early career choice provided him the contacts to source grapes from very specific terroirs. Above all, Jean-Baptiste wants freshness: his grapes are usually sourced from têtes de coteaux, the top of the hills. And he also wants granite. In Crozes, this is hardly the norm: most of the appellation lies south of the hill of Hermitage, on galets roulés. Each of his cuvées is very terroir transparent. “All are nursed with empathy”, says Jean-Baptiste. “I desire them to have finesse. But they will decide.”

Jean-Baptiste likes whole cluster and tries to keep a maximum. The reds are vinified in stainless steel tanks. Pressing is done is small vertical presses. Wines are aged in used barrels only. Jean-Baptiste likes to rack. The reds are unfined and unfiltered.

Sourced from 0.1Ha of early 1990s and 2000s planted Syrah from two parcels in the northern limit of the appellation, on the top and bottom of a southwest-facing slope, loamy soil over a mixed granite bedrock.. 70-100% whole-cluster, 2-3-week ambient yeast fermentation and maceration with pump-overs, aged for 12-18 months in used barrels, no fining or filtration, minimal SO2 added during vinification and adjusted after if needed.

Tighter and needing a bit more work to coax out the aromatics compared to the Saint Joseph, this Crozes is much more red fruited, with jelly crystals, just ripe strawberry and some more fresh earth, tilled characters. With air it has become comparatively more relaxed than the nervy St Joseph, with delicious transparent fruit, vibrant and poised, finishing svelte, with fanning supple tannins. Delicious and for immediate consumption.