2014 Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes

Winemaker Alberic Mazoyer told me that there’s “a freshness and approachable character to the 2014s that’s a lot like 2011 and 2006, maybe 2012 as well, but those are a little more soft and round.” In other words, they are wines that will provide plenty of pleasure pretty much straight out of the gate, “but they also have good balance and forward vintages have proven that they can age very well,” he added. It’s worth noting that Voge is to Saint-Pèray as Vernay is to Condrieu, as this was one of the only sources of truly fine wines from the appellation during the years that it was essentially written off, especially by wine writers but also by importers and consumers. Now, Voge often produces the best Saint-Pèrays of a given vintage and they have increasingly stiff competition from the likes of Jaboulet, Chapoutier, Cuilleron, Domaine du Tunnel and Clape, among many others.

Albéric Mazoyer told me that he'll be surprised if the 2014s "ever really close up, because the fruit is so extroverted and the tannins are already harmonious." That's not to say that the wines won't age, such is their balance and depth of fruit. As elsewhere, production was down severely here in 2014, and Mazoyer decided, as with 2013, not to bottle the estate's flagship Cornas Les Vieilles Fontaines. He opted instead to blend it into the other two bottlings "to maximize their quality, which was tremendous in both '13 and '14, even if the amount of wine wasn't so tremendous."