All aboard! Putting your nose into a glass of this startlingly vivid, powerfully perfumed Syrah is an express train to the soul of Northern Rhône, and it’s about to leave the station of obscurity for good. Why? Because Jean-François Malsert is Saint-Joseph’s newest kid on the block and his first vintage of “La Maquerelle” is already among the most natural and resoundingly refined Syrahs in France. 

In 2019, Malsert tapped a neighboring grower and was allowed to purchase fruit from a granitic parcel of old, organic vines. Then, he waved his wand in the cellar with a native, whole-cluster fermentation and neutral aging in concrete before bottling without fining, filtering, or adding a single milligram of SO2. The impressive result is an honest, remarkably pure, soil-driven red that deftly sidesteps every pitfall of “natty” wine. I’m not quite sure how he’s already mastered this finicky craft, but it makes “La Maquerelle” all the more compelling. Just a fraction of the 500 cases produced came overseas, so I implore you to grab one of them before chasing after this fast-moving train becomes the norm.

After years of running a natural wine bar in Tournon, Jean-François finally fulfilled his winemaking dream in 2011 upon launching Domaine de L’Iserand. He established his headquarters in Sécheras, which, like neighboring Ozon, is one of the “sweet spot” villages in the Saint-Joseph AOC: you can see the Hermitage hill across the river, and the steep sloping vineyards are on soils of decomposed granite. Although still microscopic, his holdings have since grown to 5.8 hectares, which Jean-François farms according to strict organic principles. In the cellar, everything is kept to a bare minimum—the persisting goal is maximum transparency. There’s a bonafide honesty to these wines in the form of vibrant, pulsing energy that drives the flavors and aromas. When first poured, you’ll notice this wine has a slight ‘prickle’ to it (from trapped CO2 left in solution as an alternative to adding sulfur) but it dissipates after some time in a decanter—at which point this blossoms into a dense, soulful, mineral-rich Syrah. 

Today’s 2019 “La Maquerelle” does not come from Malsert’s 5.8 hectares: Calling on a friend in the neighboring village of Ozon, its source is two parcels of organically farmed Syrah vines that have been rooted in decomposed granite soils for nearly 50 years. Following a whole-cluster, native-yeast vinification with a single pump-over, Malsert matured the newly born wine in concrete vats for just under one year. It was bottled without fining or filtering, and no sulfur was added throughout the entire winemaking process.   

The result is a Syrah of profound soil character, gobs of vivid primary fruits, and exotic perfumes of violet, pepper, and olive. In a Burgundy stem, it pours a deep, nearly opaque purple-ruby core with bright magenta highlights and spills out high-toned aromas of wild blackberry, Morello cherry, red plum, damp purple flowers, sage, roasted meat, cracked black pepper, tapenade, licorice, and potting soil. If you are a ‘student’ of Northern Rhône Syrah, you couldn’t ask for a more honest and soulful example. It’s medium-bodied, vibrant, ultra-fresh, and surprisingly intense so when it comes time to pull a cork, decant for 20 minutes, serve it at brisk 60 degrees, and enjoy its dark, savory, juicy flavors alongside a herb-slathered cut of lamb. Cheers!