Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Deep, brilliant ruby. Vibrant, smoke-accented dark berries, candied flowers, licorice and olive are showcased on the perfumed nose. Sappy, penetrating and chewy in the mouth, offering gently sweet blackberry, cherry-cola and baking spice flavors that show sharp definition and mineral lift. Expressive and lively in style, with polished tannins building steadily on a very long, floral-accented finish. Roughly 20% whole clusters.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and alluring yet also pretty, with expressive violet, dried lavender and blackberry paste built atop an underlying freshness. Concentrated on the palate, with balsamic, black pepper and subtle iodine building on the meaty, plump character. A beam of iron and firming tannins dry out the finish, though this is drinking great now. Drink now through 2032.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Looking first at the 2020 Cornas Les Chailles, which is the younger vine cuvée of the domaine, it sports a healthy purple hue to go with meaty, slightly reductive notes of ripe black and blue fruits, lavender, rose petal, and black pepper. It's medium to full-bodied, has a round, lush mouthfeel, good purity, and a great finish.
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.