Jean-Baptiste Souillard Syrah 2021

Jean-Baptiste Souillard Syrah is the entry point to the range and the one wine in it grown on clay and sand rather than granite.

Souillard built his reputation on the granite slopes of the northern Rhône, so a Syrah from the flatter Drôme is a departure. The fruit comes from two small parcels totalling 0.2 hectares at Chavannes, due west of Crozes-Hermitage, one planted in the 1980s and the other in the 1990s, on clay over sand. The wine is conceived as the approachable bottling of the range, but it is made in the same way as the appellation wines: fermented with wild yeasts, with a portion of whole clusters and gentle pump-overs, then aged twelve to fifteen months in older oak barrels so the wood stays in the background. What emerges is bright and perfumed, with crushed red and black fruit, textured tannins and a fine, refreshing finish, and it gives a clear sense of what the wines further up the range are doing.

Ready to drink and good for four or five years. Serve at 16-18°C with a medium-rare rib eye, lamb skewers or grilled capsicum and haloumi.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.