2021 Jean-Baptiste Souillard Crozes-Hermitage Les Baties

WINEMAKER: Jean-Baptiste Souillard
REGION: Rhône, FR
VARIETY: Syrah
VITICULTURE: Sustainable

Les Baties is a cool, southeast-facing lieu-dit on the stony red clay, loess and fractured and oxidised granite of Larnage: part of a valley on the northern side of the Hermitage hill. This was the historic centre of Crozes-Hermitage before the broad Chassis plain to the south was planted (after the 1970s). Again, altitude (200 metres) and granite are key factors here, as are the age and pruning of the vines (goblet-pruned Syrah planted in the 1950s and 1960s). Dard and Ribo make Les Baties from nearby vines.

The 2021 is a beautifully cool and compact manifestation of this slice of Crozes, with JBS’s trademark purity, freshness and balance. Once again, this cuvée was fermented as whole cluster and was raised for 14 months in mature casks.

Conditions in the Rhône Valley in 2021 played right into Jean-Baptiste Souillard's hands, where the cooler vintage meant he could easily handle the wines to showcase his famous purity, tension, precision and chiseled structure. The reds are true to form, elegant and layered with long, athletic structures and oodles of complexity.