Cornas Syrah

My contribution to a large Rhône dinner. Standouts were ‘07 Chapoutier Le Meal Blanc, ‘89 and ‘90 Jaboulet La Chappelle, ‘11 Guigal La Mouline.

An over-generalization, but what I love about Cornas is the rusticity and sometimes feral nature of the wines (which I don’t find in Hermitage or CR) and this ‘05 is in that vein. I followed this from pop (after all, we are at the almost 20yr mark) and over the course of three hours.

Interplay of red and black berry fruits, black pepper, slightly herbal (maybe closer to potpurri floral) aromatically. Bright and nimble on the palate, nothing about this is ripe or soft. Energetic acidity all the way through surrounded by notes of iron (sanguine-like) and rocky minerality. Crunchy red and black fruits (whole-cluster?), hint of gaminess but not in the meaty-style I semi-expected. Clean and pure style of Syrah. Big structure at the finish…hard to imagine drinking this 10+yrs ago. Acidity and tannin will carry this a long time, but I think this is peak window for getting depth of fruit and complexity.

2014 - Vintage - red rim color, dark base color, roasted meat, Stoney ,blackberry fruit, leather, med minus tannins( slowly softening)

Fantastic showing of 2016 Clape, while of course very young, 2016 was plenty giving with time in the decanter with classic N. Rhône aromatics and most notably an incredibly elegant, silky texture. This is going to age beautifully.

Fleshy and open. Great complexity and vibrant. Very good. Long.

Deep and intense. Violets and saddle leather. Delicious and profound. Amazing.

Bright cherry and intense. Super pure. Lovely

Lovely and supple. Intense bright cherry fruit with a lovely deep undertow of gnarly fruit. Delicious.

Very young and sappy. Fine and intense. Excellent boy young

2017 - Vintage -(throwing sediment) spiced boysenberry,white pepper, rose petal , spiced cake , softer tannins medium acidity beautiful wine

Smoke show of a wine. Literally and figuratively.