Northern Rhône legend Jean Louis Chave has spoken of the immense potential of certain parts of St Joseph to produce earth-shatteringly good Syrah. Aymeric Paillard seems to have had the same idea. After dragging his young family around France for two years in a camper van in search of the perfect place to start his grand winemaking project (he had previously been head winemaker at the biodynamic Chateau des Sarrins in Provence as well as working in Champagne – his father is Bruno Paillard - Rueda and Russian River Valley) Aymeric was drawn to the decomposed granite terraces around St Joseph, eventually settling in
Tournon-sur-Rhône. He views the Northern Rhône as the ideal mix in between continental and meridional influences-in between Burgundian earth and Mediterranean sea and sun, where Syrah's delicacy can be revealed through its granitic terroir. Working 100% organically, 100% by hand, he started in 2011 with one 3.7 ha plot in the village of Sarras. Now with a further hectare in the village of Ozon and further plantings underway (all new plantings are massal selection using vines from Cornas, Côte-Rotie, Hermitage, even Côtes d'Auvergne), his ambition is to make genuinely great StJoseph Syrah. Only three vintages in, it’s clear that
he’s on the way to doing just that.
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