2010 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Cornas Domaine de St. Pierre

Dark purple. Fresh dark berry and cherry-cola aromas and flavors are complicated by notes of Asian spices and licorice. Bright and racy on entry, then fleshier and richer in the mid-palate, with a smoky note emerging with aeration. Silky, harmonious tannins frame the long, sweet, incisive finish. Quite elegant, even polished, with plenty of surprisingly immediate appeal.

The 2010 Cornas Domaine de St.-Pierre is a more typical savage, nearly uncivilized effort exhibiting an inky/purple color as well as lots of pepper, beef blood, camphor, forest floor and blackberry characteristics. It is a wine of extraordinary intensity and superb concentration, but it is so tannic and backward that it needs to be forgotten for a decade. Even though it is in bottle, it has not evolved much since I tasted it from barrel last year. Readers should not forget the southern Rhone offerings from Paul Jaboulet-Aine that I reviewed in Issue #203 (October, 2012), especially such terrific values as the 2010 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Plan de Dieu Domaine Pere et Fille and the resurrected Chateauneuf du Papes, the 2010 Domaine de Terre Ferme. The Northern Rhone wines reviewed herein reflect the emphasis on building domaine names while not forsaking the negociant wines. The wines reviewed in this report are only the domaine wines where the Paul Jaboulet firm owns the vineyards and harvests the grapes. In Cornas, the Jaboulets own the highly regarded Domaine de St.-Pierre. A second wine, the Hermitage La Petite Chapelle, is now made in order to increase the quality of Jaboulet’s flagship offering, the Hermitage La Chapelle. As for the Hermitage La Chapelle, recent vintages (starting with 2009) have been the greatest wines made at this estate since one of the all-time classics, the 1990. There was no 2011 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Roure declared. The white wines from Paul Jaboulet-Aine have also jumped in quality. Keep in mind that the proprietors, the Frey family, not only own Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux, but are also major stockholders in the impressive Champagne firm of Billecart-Salmon. The 2010 whites all performed well. They are slightly less evolved and precocious than the 2011s, and possess a slightly greater degree of the crushed rock minerality than one finds in the more fruit-driven 2011s. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Inky purple. Exotically perfumed bouquet of spicy blackberry and blueberry scents, along with notes of violet and cured tobacco. A classic expression of syrah, with sweet dark fruit, floral and spice flavors gaining weight and richness with air. Juicy, focused and smooth on the long, penetrating finish, which leaves a candied violet note behind.