100% Syrah grown on steep, granite terraces above Tournon-sur-Rhône, fermented whole-cluster with native yeasts, and aged in old barrels with zero additions. The 2022 vintage cracks with energy: blackberries and violets collide with blood, iron, and a flash of wild herbs. It’s textured but not heavy, pulsing with immediacy and lift. This is raw, soulful Saint-Joseph from the shadows, with nothing in the way of the fruit, the place, or the feeling.

Christian Lericq & Collette Barrier – La Ferme de l’Arbre 

In a region as combed-over as the Northern Rhône, finding something new feels nearly impossible. But somehow, Christian Lericq and Collette Barrier slipped through the cracks—quietly making soulful, untamed Syrah on steep granite terraces around Tournon-sur-Rhône. Christian has been at it for over 25 years, bottling under his name and keeping things small, local, and decidedly out of the spotlight. It wasn’t until 2016, with the creation of La Ferme de l’Arbre, that he and Collette formed a proper domaine—though the name remains as anonymous as they are.

Their 4.5ha of vines—once all within the Saint-Joseph appellation—are farmed by hand, with tools as analog as a pickaxe and winch. Everything is done without chemical inputs, nourished by compost and herbal teas, with only trace amounts of copper or sulfur used in extreme cases. In the cellar, it’s whole-bunch fermentations, native yeasts, no fining, no filtering, and no additions—just raw, expressive wine left to age in old barrels under their home.

Though their friends and neighbors (Souhaut, Dard, Ribo) have become names in natural wine circles, Christian and Collette have quietly let their wines speak. And speak they do—bloody, electric, and buzzing with immediacy. These are not polished, prim Rhône Syrahs. They’re the wild, emotive counterparts.. They don't just stand apart from the crowd—they exist on their own wavelength.