Domaine Lionel Faury, Saint-Joseph, Les Ribaudes, 2024

Lionel Faury is one of the Northern Rhône's most reliable addresses, and Les Ribaudes is the wine that shows exactly why. Drawn from granite-rich soils on the west bank of the Rhône, this is Saint-Joseph as it should be: Syrah with real personality — dark-fruited, peppery, and carrying that characteristic Northern Rhône savouriness that sits somewhere between cured meat and crushed stone. It's not trying to be Hermitage. It's doing something arguably more satisfying: delivering genuine terroir-driven character at a price that doesn't make you wince.

The 2024 vintage brought freshness and precision to the Northern Rhône, and this shows it. There's a taut, mineral quality running through the wine that keeps the fruit honest. Drink it from now with something off the grill, or give it three or four years and it will find another gear entirely. We'd drink it with confidence until 2034.