Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bottled just one month before my tasting, Clape’s 2023 Cornas opens with a deep, introverted bouquet of cassis, mulberries and licorice mingled with carnal notes. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and structured, it’s built around a firm, somewhat austere palate with a good chassis of youthful tannins that lead to a spicy, lead pencil-inflected finish. Despite its brooding character, it should benefit from time in the cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and brooding, with expressive notes of blue fruit, açaí and blackberry liqueur underscored by mineral intensity and a firm beam of iron. Details of licorice, menthol, violet and anise add to the perfumy richness, offset by savory herbs, meat and black olive. Full-bodied and rich, with tannins that are tight but nicely sculpted. A bruiser of a wine that shows freshness and smoky length. Still tightly wound, so give this time. Best from 2028 through 2040.
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.