2023 Cornas Vielles Fontaines

Not yet bottled but tasted as a final blend, the 2023 Cornas Les Vieilles Fontaines delivers ripe, exotic aromatics of black and blue fruits, blood orange, violets, and incense, with some peppery nuances emerging with air. All the 2023s here have this exotic, lifted style, and this is medium to full-bodied, with a pure, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and outstanding length. Aging 24 months in 228-liter oak barrels with 15% to 20% new oak, it's going to need short-term cellaring to show its full potential. This was another terrific lineup from Alain Voge. The 2023s here are rock solid, with good ripeness and lifted, exotic profiles. The 2024s shine in this vintage, and while it was challenging, there's plenty to like in the releases here.

The 2023 Cornas Les Vieilles Fontaines stirs to life with ripe dark cherry, blackberry, graphite dust, peppery underlayers and light-touch stemmy tones. Broad-shouldered and layered, the 2023 is a delicious Les Vieilles Fontaines, ending with ferrous persistence on the long finish.

Lastly and coming from a tiny portion of the Les Côtes lieu-dit (La Fontaine), the 2023 Cornas Vieilles Fontaines was 70% destemmed and is still resting in 20% new barrels. Cassis, liquid violets, orange zest, and exotic floral notes all emerge from the glass, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a pure, elegant, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It's a ripe yet classy Cornas in the making and will be well worth seeking out. Today, the talented Lionel Fraisse leads this terrific domaine, having taken over from Albéric Mazoyer in 2018, and he continues to make richly textured, incredibly impressive wines. Looking at the whites, the flagship Fleur de Crussol was first created in 1999 as a collaboration between Alain Voge and Lyon's sommelier Daniel Denis. It comes from some of the oldest vines in the appellation and a mix of both granite and limestone soils. It always shows its oak élevage right on release and benefits from bottle age. The Saint-Péray Cuvée Boisée was first released in 1984 but was renamed Cuvée Ongrie in 2015. It, too, is 100% Marsanne (from 50-year-old vines and slightly more clay soils) and is raised in a mix of 228- and 400-liter barrels, with roughly 15-20% being new today. As with the Fleur de Crussol, it sees lots of lees contact and benefits from bottle age. Lastly, the Saint-Péray Harmonie was first created in 2001, and it comes from a handful of sites and is raised all in concrete tanks. You can think of this as the entry-level white from the estate, and it has always had a fresh, textbook Saint-Péray style. Moving to the reds, all of the Cornas from this estate are beautiful wines. The Cornas Les Chailles was first created in 2003 and comes from a mix of the Combe, Les Saveaux, Cayret, Les Mazards, Chaillot, and Chapuzes lieux-dits, mostly on the lower slopes of the appellation. It's completely destemmed and raised in used oak. This can be thought of as the entry-level wine of the domaine, and while it drinks well right out of the gate, it normally benefits from a few years in the cellar. A newer cuvée, the Cornas Chapelle Saint Pierre, comes from higher elevation vines planted in 1999 (the lieu-dit is Saint-Pierre). These grapes previously went into the Vieilles Vignes release, yet due to their singular profile, the estate opted to create a new cuvée. This is mostly destemmed and aged all in used 228-liter barrels. The Cornas Vieilles Vignes comes from vines averaging 30 to 80 years in age and is mostly destemmed, with the élevage in a mix of larger barrels, about 10-20% being new. This is a classic, concentrated Cornas that offers loads of fruit and richness without going over the top. Most top vintages need 4-5 years of bottle age and have two decades of prime drinking. Lastly, and only in top vintages, they'll release the Cornas Vieilles Fontaines. First produced in 1988, the cuvée comes from a parcel of very old vines in the La Fontaine section of the Les Côtes lieu-dit. It's partially destemmed (around 70%) and is raised 24 months in 15-20% new French oak barrels (228-liter). It's always the most powerful, full-bodied, and opulent of the lineup and needs a solid 4-6 years to shed its youthful baby fat and round into a classic Cornas.