Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Vibrant, with chiseled cut to the range of briar, anise, blackberry compote, bay leaf, iron and sanguine notes, all wrapped with singed alder and juniper accents on the finish. Pure and driven. Best from 2016 through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There was no Les Vieilles Fontaines bottled in 2011, so that fruit went into this bottling, along with several other parcels. At 10 years of age, this 2011 Cornas Vieilles Vignes is drinking well, a lovely, mature, balanced wine. Hints of leather and dried cherries appear on the nose, while the medium-bodied palate is silky and fresh, with a long finish of black olives and cured meat. Drink it over the next several years. Best After 2015
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.