Hervé Souhaut is at this point a natural wine icon in the Rhône; his Syrahs have devoted followings—even though he always uses whole-cluster fermentations, i.e. he doesn't remove grape clusters' stems as is common practice in winemaking, his wines always manage to be a bit more aromatic, soft, and weightless than some of the intense and extracted counterparts from around the northern Rhône. 'Cessieux' is a single vineyard to which Souhaut gained access in 2013; after making great Syrahs in the region for 20 years, he finally obtained a choice plot of St-Joseph. Deep but not heavy, lilac, violet, plum, with rocky minerality underneath. A special bottle.