2015 Cornas Chante-Perdrix

Winemakers Clair Darnaud and Jacques Grange told me that comparisons of 2015 to 2009 were fair, to a point, but "2015 has a lot more energy than '09." What makes the wines so intriguing, she told me, "is how well the tannins and acidity blend with the ripe fruit" where with the '09s "there's a danger that the richness of the fruit isn't supported so the wines can seem flat when you compare them to the '15s." Grange thinks that 2015 is likely "the best all-around vintage for red wines in the region" of this generation and thinks that they are destined for an extremely long life. But since the tannins are "well-wrapped by the fruit they might not ever close up." Still, both Grange and Darnaud think that anybody planning to open the wines any time soon is well-advised to give them a good decanting "because the fruit is very overt now."

These 2015s represent as solid a set of wines as I’ve yet tasted from Delas Frères, although it should be noted that their ascent to the upper tier of northern Rhône producers has been steady over the last decade. Owned since 1993 by the Champagne house Louis Roederer, this 160-year-old winery doesn’t lack for the capital to invest in quality and they aren’t afraid to do so either. The most dramatic example of their commitment is on display in the heart of Tain l’Hermitage, across the Rhône from their current home in Saint-Jean-de-Muzols, where construction has begun on a new, state-of-the-art winemaking facility at the original 19th-century cellar and mansion of Paul Jaboulet and his eponymous winery. It’s slated to be finished in time for the 2018 harvest, God and the French authorities willing. This will no doubt be a boon for wine tourism for a town that, for now, really has just one operational winery, the tiny Marc Sorrel cellar, plus the Large Cave de Tain headquarters on its far outskirts, on the way to the autoroute. An increasing number of tasting rooms, a very good wine bar, retail and dining options and, of course, the Valrhona factory’s theme park have opened in recent years but non-professional visitors looking to check out a winery have slim pickings compared to Ampuis or even Cornas or Mauves.

Winemakers Claire Darnaud and Jacques Grange told me that they’re confident that in their new digs they’ll be able to take their wines to an even higher level of quality as they’ll be able to work in a winery that they designed from the ground up. Grange told me that they are looking forward to being able to work more efficiently than they do today in Saint-Jean-de-Muzols and that lessons they’ve been compelled to learn ad hoc at the current winery have helped them figure out how to streamline their new facility. The intent is “for the wines to be handled as little as possible from grape to bottle,” as Darnaud put it. So much work and expense goes into a full year of growing, she added, “that to not respect it in the cellar would be a catastrophe.”