Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One of the few perfect Cornas wines I have ever tasted is the 2010 Cornas Les Vieilles Fontaines. Even better than it was last year from barrel.when it received a score of (95-97), it remains the most backward wine of this trio, boasting an extraordinary black/purple color as well as a remarkable perfume of spring flowers, crushed rocks, lead pencil shavings, blueberry and blackberry liqueur, licorice and truffles. Deep, full-bodied, tannic and backward with everything perfectly integrated into its personality, this is a monumental Northern Rhone. Give it several years of bottle age and drink it over the following 25-30+ years.
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Wine Spectator
A gorgeous, modern expression, with ganache, pastis and fruitcake notes out front before dark fig, currant and crushed blackberry fruit fills in quickly behind. Shows lots of drive, with a graphite spine grounding the finish, letting bay leaf and sweet tapenade hints flicker in to keep this grounded in its terroir. Best from 2015 through 2030. 266 cases made.
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.