Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The most meaty and wild of the bunch, the 2012 Cornas Chamelrose, which sees roughly 25% new oak, exhibits loads of smoked meats, truffle, forest floor and sweet black and blue fruits. The most approachable of the group, with medium to full-bodied richness, a supple, rounded texture and fine tannin, it can be enjoyed any time over the coming decade.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Wine Spectator
Sleek, with a sweet tapenade note coating a core of steeped plum and blackberry fruit. Maduro tobacco and iron accents weave through the finish. Well-rendered and approachable now. Drink now through 2022.
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.