Winemaker Notes
This wine is marked by elegance, while conveying the typical character of Cornas and Saint-Péray.
Pair this wine alongside chicken-liver mousse with sweet wine and cep mushrooms.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the two Cornas I was able to taste from this report, the 2018 Cornas Les Chailles comes from a mix of lieux-dits, including Combe, Les Saveaux, Cayret, Les Mazards, Chaillot, and Chapuzes. It was all destemmed and brought up in used barrels. Offering gorgeous notes of black raspberries, cassis, spring flowers, game, lavender, and pepper, this is pure Cornas goodness on both the nose and palate. Medium to full-bodied and concentrated, with bright acidity, this complex, layered, beautifully balanced Cornas can be enjoyed any time over the coming 15-20 years. Count me impressed.
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Wine Spectator
Very racy, focused version with a bright violet note leading the way for damson plum and red cherry coulis notes. Light white pepper and chalk hints emerge on the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of several different parcels matured in older barrels, the 2018 Cornas les Chailles impresses for its distinct scents of crushed stone, red plums and red raspberries. Full-bodied and concentrated, it's nevertheless fresh and red fruited, with fine-grained tannins, a relatively open, generous feel and a gently tannic, softly dusty finish. It should drink well for at least another decade and possibly even improve over much of that time. Rating : 92+
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.