Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A focused, chalk-edged style, with piercing savory and olive notes out front, backed by red currant and bitter cherry flavors. The racy, mouthwatering finish allows the chalky spine to stretch out. Will be a winner when the fruit fills out fully. Best from 2017 through 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Cornas les Chailles is the estate's entry level wine that comes all from the Les Chailles lieu-dit, which is located in the northern part of the appellation. This 2013 offers outstanding notes of black and blue fruits, pretty wild herbs, violets and plenty of minerality. Medium to full-bodied, pure, and with fine tannin, it doesn’t have a huge back-end level of depth or concentration, but it's a beautiful wine that will have a decade of drinkability.
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.