Cornas

This is a blend of three parcels from the mid-slopes of Cornas. The team has sourced the best fruit from this vintage and the plots complement each other well, giving a wine full of dark broody fruit, wood smoke and spice. The tannins here are very fine and inky black but may need some time. Drink 2020-2029. 

Nicolas destemmed half the crop in 2016 and selected carefully, attentive to the possible impact of prolonged spring rainfall. Yields were reduced therefore, but there was no hail and no frost. Dense and dark, the wine has a hint of the sauvage behind the fruit, an edge which will guarantee the potential for lengthy cellaring and a fascinating evolution, at the culmination of which it should be relished with a game bird. Drink 2020-2025.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

Eponymous slopes, suitably adroit, from the near homophone lieu-dit, Les Chailles, host one of Alain’s most sublime pieces of work. Syrah is seldom as expressive in youth, and after only a little time in glass it will cede a cornucopia of woodland magic. Oak plays its part, but discretely, diplomatically, as the fruit rejoins an almost painfully eloquent soliloquy. Drink 2022-2030+.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

Brilliant purple. Powerful, mineral-tinged cherry and blackberry scents, along with notes of bacon fat, licorice, potpourri and pungent flowers. Pure, concentrated and energetic on the palate, offering deeply concentrated black and blue fruit flavors that gain weight and become sweeter with air. Closes extremely long, sappy and sweet, juicy acidity adding lift and cut to the blue-fruit-dominated, youthfully tannic finish.
Josh Raynolds, Vinous (winter 2015)

These 45-year-old vines, located in diverse, if unfailingly vertiginous, terroirs to the north-west of the village have produced a wine, the floral aromatics of which belie the depth and power of its core. Graphite, plum and dark chocolate are all evidenced, and there is certainly no need for anxiety on the subject of concentration. 
Drink 2018-2026.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

There is a little clay (15%) interspersed with the decomposed granite and the wine is accordingly more open with red fruit notes in the ascendant. Very fine but authoritative tannins and whisper of salinity on the finish mark out this cuvée.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer

Driving up from Cornas village to Thierry’s remote winery, following his mother, whose driving was adventurous to say the least, suddenly turned into a scene from a Buñuel film: the mists descended and then suddenly the breaks screeched as we encountered a large black van, the leading vehicle in what turned out to be a funeral cortege. We were spared and the audience with the magus was well worth the risk. His philosophy  focuses on whole bunch pressing , pigeage au pied and minimal sulphur and is essentially traditional; he has added the extra dimension of micro-parcel selection and exceptionally low yields, both of which were perhaps less popular with his forebears. Be that as it may, the 2012s demonstrate, once again, the sheer skill of the man.

This legendary wine is actually a blend, from 1925 vines in Les Côtes and slightly younger vines from Le Chaillot. The grapes are partially destemmed and the must is aged for two years. The result is outstanding; the nose marrying notes of coulis and spice and the palate rich, long and dignified. Surely one of the very best wines in the appellation.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, February 2012

2010 marks a spectacular return to form for this excellent Domaine which is based in St Peray and which has been no stranger to BBR over the years. . From the more traditional end of the spectrum, which in terms of Cornas means wines of incalculable gravitas, the Voge wines are now vinified by Chapoutier alumnus, Albert Mazoyers, and have never been better...

Steep and stark (decomposed) granitic splendour has framed a wine where intervention, be it in the form of racking or de-stemming, or pretty much anything else, has been eschewed in the name of purity of thought and clarity of deed. The result, somewhat paradoxically, is virtually impenetrable; such is its tannic livery. The intensity and quality of fruit will come through over time and the result will be a wonderful match for the richest of Lyonnais fare. 
Drink 2018-2026.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

This 100-year-old plot from the Reyard lieu-dit has been a long-standing Berry Bros. & Rudd favourite; if anything the efforts of the nephew now exceed those of the uncle; be that as it may, the wine is now definitely one of the very best in this fashionable appellation. Inky black, with haunting aromas of violet and woodsmoke, the wine is a perfect paradigm of powerful precision and poised potential.
Simon Field MW - Rhône Buyer

It makes a nice change to state that a winery is far from state-of-the-art; M Paris makes wine in the chaotic splendour behind a large but only half-built house in the backstreets of Cornas; so far, so unpromising. His wines, however, are sublime and it should come as no surprise that he has now joined the first rank of Cornas producers. This is more than appropriate and very good news for us, as we bought the wines from his Geynale vineyard when it was owned by his uncle Robert Michel, and have always considered it to be among the very best plots in the village. The 2013 Cornas la Geynale is slightly more perfumed and wild than the Granit 60, with terrific black pepper, smoked earth, leather, meat and lots of black currant fruit. While from a cooler vintage, it doesn’t lack for stuffing and has full-bodied richness, a layered, ripe texture and sweet tannin. It’s another rocking wine from this young vigneron who’s at the top of his game.
Jeb Dunnuck - Wine Advocate Issue#216 Dec 2014

The Patou vineyards have yielded a ripe and warmly textured wine, with notes of cassis, eucalypt and mocha evidenced. Slight high-toned, the core of the wine is plump and reassuring.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer

Located in the shadows of the spire of the village’s impressive church, Domaine Dumien-Serrette is unassuming and understated, unlike the wines of course, which glory in ripeness and fruit. Gilbert Serrette blends from barrique and larger vats, filled at this stage with the fruits that are distinguished only by whether or not their vines were located en coteau or en demi-coteau. He cites 2011 as an easier and less rustic vintage than 2010; the chronology and tempo of its evolution set in train by a rapid harvest on 14^th and 15^th September.

The term Vin Noir to describe Cornas has echoed down the ages, introduced, some maintain, by Charlemagne himself. Three high parcels with differing orientations are the source for this dense, tannic bitter chocolate hymn to the virtues of patience.

The age of the vines here varies from 25 to 90 years old, sourced from plots in Le Chaillot, Les Mezards and les Reynards. A near opaque colour with an iridescent sheen cedes to a fantastic bejewelled palate, which seems to be both modern and traditional at the same time, such is its creamy richness and its fine savoury finish.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, February 2012

2010 marks a spectacular return to form for this excellent Domaine which is based in St Peray and which has been no stranger to BBR over the years. . From the more traditional end of the spectrum, which in terms of Cornas means wines of incalculable gravitas, the Voge wines are now vinified by Chapoutier alumnus, Albert Mazoyers, and have never been better...