Auguste Clape Cornas 2006
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Robert
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Decanter
I asked which vintage Pierre Clape was enjoying at the moment. He said the 2006, and generously opened a bottle to show me why. It still has plenty of time ahead of it, but is drinking fantastically well at the moment, smack-bang in its second drinking window, displaying a beautiful nose of tobacco leaf, cedar and dried porcini mushroom - it also has a whiff on the distinctive wispy black and white mould that grows in his cellar. It has great intensity and a deeply textural tannic mesh on the palate, all dripping with squashed forest berry fruit. It could only be Cornas; it could only be Clape. Drinking Window 2019 - 2032
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Clape's 2006 Cornas continues to drink well, like so many 2006s. This bottle, ordered off the wine list at La Ruche in Saint-Péray, was a recent release from the winery. It boasts a wonderful array of roasted meat, black olive and cassis flavors. Full-bodied, with a fabulously silky and rich texture, it finishes savory and long. Just a lovely bottle of mature Cornas.
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Wine Spectator
Rock-solid, with a terrifically built core of black Mission fig, macerated currant and warm fig paste supported by iron-clad tannins. The background is filled with iron, tar and espresso, but this stays racy and pure, despite the dark profile. Just a step behind the 2005, with superb grip and density. Best from 2011 through 2021.
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In the world of wine, there are many good winegrowers. However, there are only a very select few who are truly great, and Auguste Clape will go down in history as one of the greats. A proud and uncompromising pioneer of fine winemaking in the Northern Rhône, his Syrahs from the cru of Cornas have earned their place among the most celebrated wines of France. The Clapes have been vignerons for many generations, but the infamous grower strikes of 1906 and 1907 forced Auguste's grandfather out of the Languedoc and into the Northern Rhône to start anew from practically nothing. The Clapes rebuilt their fortunes, terrace by terrace, along the steep, western slopes of the Rhône River. Without pretense or fanfare, Auguste, the former mayor of Cornas, was a stately picture of grace and magnanimity—a no-nonsense wise man who never rested on his laurels and sought to better himself and his wines each year until his passing in 2018 at the age of 93. Today, his son, Pierre-Marie, and grandson, Olivier, carry on his legacy with honor and integrity.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Distinguished as a fine Syrah producing zone since the 18th century, Cornas, like Cote Rotie, is made up of vineyards covering steep and hard-to-work, granite terraces. As a result the region’s wines fell out of favor during the mid 20th century when the global market was more focused on bulk wines and vineyards that yielded high quantities. It wasn’t until the 1980s when a group of energetic young winemakers reestablished the integrity of these precipitous terraces and also began making an ultra-modern style of Syrah. The new style didn’t need a decade before it was drinkable and could reach the consumer faster than the region’s traditional wines. Given the new quality coming out of the zone, its popularity once again soared and today a good Cornas can easily challenge many of those from Hermitage. Characteristics of Syrah from Cornas include teeth-staining flavors of blackberry jam, plum, pepper, violets, smoked game, charcoal, chalk dust and smoke.