Dard & Ribo Saint-Joseph Rouge 2024

Dard & Ribo are one of the pioneering estates of the natural wine movement in the Northern Rhône. René Jean Dard and François Ribo started the domaine in 1984 with a single hectare in Mercurol, gradually expanding to roughly 9 hectares across Crozes-Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Hermitage. From the beginning, their goal has been to make wines that express their sites without sacrificing freshness or drinkability, long before that approach became fashionable.

The Saint-Joseph vineyards sit on the right bank of the Rhône, where granite is the defining influence. The 2024 cuvée brings together syrah from several sites, including sandy granite at Pitrou and harder granite, quartz, red clay and alluvial stones at Les Champs. The vines are farmed organically, with biodynamic practices also reported, although the domaine is not consistently described as certified. They work without herbicides or synthetic chemical inputs and harvest by hand. 

In the cellar, this is very much a Dard & Ribo wine: spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, a substantial proportion of whole clusters and gentle extraction rather than aggressive punching down. The 2024 was fermented in large vats and then aged around 10 to 12 months in older 600 liter oak, keeping the wood firmly in the background. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered, with no additional sulfur reported for this cuvée.

The 2024 has more structure and depth than C’est le Printemps, but it retains the domaine’s characteristic lightness and energy. Think fresh syrah rather than heavy Rhône red: red fruit, violet, pepper and savory mineral notes, with fine tannins, bright acidity and a distinctly salty finish. It is a particularly good example of how granite and whole cluster fermentation can give Saint Joseph both aromatic lift and serious structure without making the wine feel weighty.