Noël Verset Cornas 1985-2006

Noël Verset's wines need no introduction to hard-core fans of the wines of France's northern Rhône Valley, most of whom consider them icons of the region, along with those of Marius Gentaz-Dervieux and Raymond Trollat. As with those two producers, the domain no longer exists, with its vines sold off or passed on to family members from the late-1980s through the early 2000s, making any remaining bottles expensive rarities by now.

Born in 1919, Verset began working alongside his father in the family's Cornas vineyards and cellar at, incredibly, the age of 12, in 1931. He officially took over the domain in 1943 and began to slowly expand his production by renting as well as purchasing additional plots of vines when opportunities presented themselves and cash flow was expedient. Including the vineyards that he inherited, Verset eventually owned just over 2.5 hectares in the very best sites of the appellation: Reynard, Sabarotte and, especially, Chaillots.

Verset began to wind the domaine down starting in the late 1980s by selling his 0.9 hectare Reynard holding to the then 25 year old Thierry Allemand in 1988. Allemand, of course has gone on to become one of the most highly regarded winemakers not just in the Rhône Valley, but in the world. Verset's 1.2 hectare piece of Sabarotte, which were the first vines that he bought, in 1948, was sold in 2001 to the Clape and Courbis families. In 2006 he finally passed on his last parcel and crown jewel, a prized half-hectare of Chaillots, to his nephew Franck Balthazar, whose own immediate family already owned 1.5 hectares of that vineyard.

There never was much wine to go around and Verset's wines pretty much stayed under the radar until after he had retired. I happily recall being able to buy as much of his wine as I wanted for around $35 a bottle or so through the early 2000s, at which time fans of traditionally made northern Rhône wines began moving into panic and acquisition mode as more and more old-timers shuffled off the scene and the move toward bigger, riper wines and the use of small, often new oak barrels went into high gear.

I first met the incredibly charming and talkative Verset in July of 1989 and even by the standards of small domaines back then his operation hearkened to an older time. Cleanliness wasn't an issue in his tiny chai, which was right out his home's back door and across a narrow street but it definitely looked like nothing had changed since he first set up shop during World War II. Tasting at Verset felt like stepping back in time, especially next to the relatively spotless facilities of the larger négociants of the region.

Verset stuck to traditional winemaking methods throughout his career, never de-stemming his fruit and using a small, traditional basket press before moving the juice into small concrete fermentation vats and then into old 600 liter demi-muids for aging. Bottling was done by hand and with no filtration, as one would expect. These are in no way the stereotypical brawny, overtly tannic and sauvage type of wine that many incorrectly judge to be "typical" Cornas. Far from it in fact, as Verset's wines were always about red fruit, aromatic complexity and minerality. It's not easy to find wines from the northern Rhône that display the finesse the Verset succeeded in expressing, but a few younger producers have taken inspiration from him and are making wines in the same vein - Allemand and Balthazar, unsurprisingly, come to mind, as do the Gonon brothers in Saint-Joseph. This tasting/dinner at Bar Boulud, hosted by the Rare Wine Co., provided a rare a opportunity to survey the arc of Verset's work back to 1985.

Preparations at Bar Boulud

Preparations at Bar Boulud

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Noël Verset's wines need no introduction to hard-core fans of the wines of France's northern Rhône Valley, most of whom consider them icons of the region, along with those of Marius Gentaz-Dervieux and Raymond Trollat. As with those two producers, the domain no longer exists, with its vines sold off or passed on to family members from the late-1980s through the early 2000s, making any remaining bottles expensive rarities by now.