Geography
Cornas sits on the right (west) bank of the Rhône, opposite Valence, the most southerly of the Northern Rhône red appellations. The vineyards are perched on dramatically steep granite slopes that catch full afternoon sun. The geology is pure granite, with a thin topsoil and very low water-holding capacity that stresses the vines and produces tiny berries with high skin-to-juice ratios. The appellation is small, about 145 hectares, and produces some of the most concentrated, structured Syrah in France.
The tradition
Traditional Cornas is made with whole-cluster fermentation, extended maceration, and aging in older neutral oak. The result is wines of remarkable purity and structure but also remarkable austerity: Cornas in youth is famously unyielding. The producer Auguste Clape was the postwar reference and helped establish the appellation's modern reputation.
Style of the wines
Cornas Syrah: dense, dark, structured. Blackberry, black plum, black pepper, olive, smoked meat, leather, sometimes a graphite-and-iron mineral spine from the granite. Tannin is firm; acid is bright; alcohol typically 13.5-14.5%. Young Cornas can be brutally austere; the wines require patience.
How they age
Top Cornas from a serious producer ages twenty-five to thirty-five years. The wines develop a savory, leathery, smoky tertiary complexity that is unmistakably Cornas. Auguste Clape (now Pierre-Marie Clape) and Thierry Allemand are the references for traditional Cornas; the modern style from Vincent Paris and others is slightly more approachable but still serious.
Producers we know
Auguste Clape (now Pierre-Marie Clape, the traditional reference), Thierry Allemand (cult, biodynamic), Vincent Paris (we carry Granit 60), Domaine Alain Voge, Domaine du Coulet (Matthieu Barret, biodynamic), Eric and Joël Durand.