All wines below are red unless otherwise noted.
BELLE
2017 Crozes-Hermitage Rouge Carmin
This is a rich, velvety wine with red and black berry fruit in a medium-full body. Nothing subtle here, but plenty of deliciousness. Certified organic. Lot L171101. 14% stated alcohol. 89/A-
Gérard COURBIS
2017 Saint-Joseph
This Courbis (unlike the Courbis brothers below) is new to my experience. He is located in Mauves, home to some of the original and still finest Saint-Joseph sites. The wine is medium-weight, round, and has rustic dark fruits and texture. 12.5% stated alcohol. Lot L 105. 87/B-
Domaine Laurent et Dominique COURBIS
These wines are all modern in style, more Syrah than Cornas. They’re not what I’m looking for in Cornas, but I can’t deny that they have been well made and do show quality fruit. As a consequence, I struggle with how to review them.
2017 Cornas Champelrose
This wine has excellent fruit, but there is a strong new oak signature which, while not dominant, does prevent the wine from being the best expression of the terroir (25% new oak, 20% in 1 year-old barrels, 45% in 2 year-old barrels). From the bottom of the slope, about 58% of the vines date to 1919, the rest to the early 2000s. All grapes are destemmed. There’s some char and smokiness to the nose. The mouth also shows char and is dense and creamy with dark fruits. The tannins are round, but the oak suggests that this wine needs 8-10 years to show its best. Modern Cornas, but not badly done. I’d serve this wine with very strongly-flavored food in order to neutralize the oak. 13.5% stated alcohol. Lot 0419C. 88?/B-
2017 Cornas La Sabarotte
This wine comes from vines on granitic soils in the Sabarotte lieu-dit. Most of the vines were planted in 1947. In other words, great potential here. The wine is raised in either 70% or 100% new oak barriques (the website says 70%, but I think it may be out of date; other sources say 100%), including malo-lactic in the barrels. The resulting wine is Modern Syrah, and those used to drinking Syrah from the New World will likely find something very impressive here with dark fruits, modern round tannins, a medium-weight body with power but not too much, and richness. 14% stated alcohol. Lot L0619S. 89?/B
2017 Cornas Les Eygats
The vines here are a bit over twenty years-old and situated on classic decomposed soils. Malo-lactic fermentation half in new barriques, half in 1 year-old barriques, then raised in one-year old barrels. Of the three wines, this seems the most modern for its creamy texture and dark, but imprecise, fruits. I’d wait 5-10 years to drink and it should have no trouble aging 20+ years. Lot L 0619E. 14% stated alcohol. 86?/D
Guy FARGE
2017 Saint-Joseph Vania white
This is excellent white Saint-Joseph with a creamy texture and fresh pear fruit in a medium-weight body. This wine is 80-90% Marsanne, the rest Roussanne, planted in the 1950s through the 1980s in St-Jean-de-Muzols and Vion, the heart of the original Saint-Joseph appellation. 13.5% stated alcohol. 90/A
2018 Vin de Pays d’Ardèche Bouquet de Syrah
From 25 year-old vines outside the Saint-Joseph appellation on granitic soils, this wine has a strongly reductive nose — decanting several hours before serving is advised. But once one gets beyond the reduction, the wine shows rich, ripe, well-defined Syrah fruits with dark plums in a medium-weight body with not notable tannins. It is, as the French say, a vin de plaisir or a wine of pleasure. 12.5% stated alcohol. 87/A
2017 Saint-Joseph Terroir de Granit
No destemming of the grapes here, raised in 400-liter barrels and a 3000-litre foudre, this wine is quite tough to drink initially. Over a period of days, it begins to open to a medium-weight wine with blueberries and violets. Cellar for a decade or decant several hours before serving. 13.5% stated alcohol. 86/C
2017 Saint-Joseph Passion de Terrasses
A bit more richness than the Terroir de Granit above, but still quite hard and tannic. All whole cluster fruit, raised in 400-liter barrels. Cellar for a decade. 13.5% stated alcohol. 87/B-
2017 Cornas Harmonie
This wine is not as good as the 2016 version, possibly in part because the grapes from the Reynard vineyard are not included in this blend, now being made in a separate (and much more expensive) wine of their own. This wine is entirey from the Saumen lieu-dit, and it is entirely whole cluster fruit. The wine is approachable and easy-to-drink with modern tannins and ripe dark plum fruits, moderate acidity, and a medium-weight body. I would opt for drinking the wine in the next five years. 13.5% stated alcohol. 90/B+
Lionel FAURY
2017 Saint-Joseph La Gloriette/Vieilles Vignes
As best I can tell the identical wine is sold in some markets as La Gloriette and in others as vieilles vignes. For the record, I tasted from a bottle labelled La Gloriette. The wine has a medium-weight body with spicy dark fruit typical of Saint-Joseph near the Côte-Rôtie appellation, but the spiciness is too prominent and the precision of better vintages of this wine is not present. 13% stated alcohol. 87/B-