Winemaker Notes
This cuvée comes from various vineyard parcels across the Courbis domaine, mostly from vines near the base of Cornas slope. They are blended to produce a wine ready for near term drinking upon release. The soils are a combination of only limestone and granite. he wine has generous, accessible, pure fruit and shows the full character of its appellation in the attractive Courbis house style.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
Spice-accented aromas of black raspberry, violet and smoky minerals, plus a hint of incense in the background. Concentrated yet lively and precise, offering intense dark berry, floral pastille and cracked pepper flavors and a bracing jolt of acidity that adds back-end cut. Fleshes out slowly with air and shows excellent clarity and appealing sweetness on the long, gently tannic finish.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Wine Spectator
Vivid and racy in style, with a chalky frame that guides the core of cassis and cherry reduction notes from start to finish, picking up dark tobacco, sanguine, chestnut and cast iron accents along the way. Best from 2023 through 2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Less massive and ripe than I expected, the 2019 Cornas Champelrose is actually on the taut side, with fresh purple raspberries and hints of tart redcurrants. It's medium to full-bodied, with a silky feel to the lingering finish. Best After 2023
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.