Picture tasting in Lionel Faury’s cellar, high on a vine-covered hill in the very north of the northern Rhône. He splashes a sample of deep purple juice into your goblet: a Syrah that leaps out of the glass, as if ripe olives, violets, and an array of black fruits had been smooshed together with a granite mortar and pestle, its tooth-staining contents emptied out and strained to leave behind a vinous elixir teeming with life and vividly fresh aromas, coating the palate like stone-ground blackberry pulp with each velvety sip.
—Anthony Lynch
Winemaker Notes
One of the best sources of value in all of France is in the everyday reds of the greatest northern Rhône growers. Lionel Faury certainly ranks among these growers, and as exquisite as his Saint-Josephs and Côte-Rôties are, if you are looking for an abundance of character on a weeknight budget, you can’t do better than his Collines Rhodaniennes Syrah “Les Hautes Ribaudes.” In fact, of all his bottlings, this one may best align with Lionel’s own temperament: unpretentious, charming, and full of pleasant surprises. I can just picture him popping the cork after winning one of his countless national titles of joute nautique (i.e. water jousting, look it up!), and passing the bottle joyously among his teammates along with a casse-croûte . For this cuvée, Lionel sources his Syrah from vines that stretch across the plateau above Saint-Joseph’s steep slopes. The high-altitude granite terroir gives this lithe red freshness in spades as well as a mouthwateringly mineral finish. Evoking black pepper, brambly fruit, and a leafy earthiness, this is a KLWM staff favorite every vintage—and a perfect French country red!
