2009 Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes

The fact that the 2010 harvest took place a full three weeks later than that of 2009 is the reason why the tannins of the earlier vintage are less harmonious, according to winemaker Alberic Mazoyer. "Two thousand nine was a much hotter season and the fruit had to be brought in a bit early because acids were dropping. In 2010 we were able to pick whenever we wanted." Mazoyer showed me all of the 2009 Saint-Perays again this year because when I tasted them last November they had only been in bottle for a short spell. The Harmonie is an open-knit, highly appealing wine that is just as lively as it was last year, but with added heft and roundness. I'd drink it over the next three years or so. As for the Terres Boisees, I liked its blend of richness and vivacity and was surprised by how it seems to have firmed up in the last year. Mazoyer says that he think it will be at its peak in another two years and that it should be served "with a rich fish dish with lots of butter," which sounds like a good plan to me. The 2009 Fleur de Crussol has also tightened up in the last twelve months and is now emphasizing its minerality and florality. I suspect that it will be a slow ager, although it is pretty alluring right now, especially with some aeration.

Director/winemaker Alberic Mazoyer told me that "there's no reason that Cornas should be rustic unless the wine has been polluted by brettanomyces or dirty oak. It's richer than other wines of the Rhone, sure, because it's warmer here, but coarse tannins and strong animal character are just signs of inattentive winemaking. Cornas should be a marriage of power and freshness. Yes, Cornas is tannic, but the tannins can and should be fine and harmonious. People who expect Cornas to be sauvage are probably using flawed wines as their measuring stick, and that's just wrong." Mazoyer calls 2009 "a different animal than other hot years like 2003 and 2005. There was good rain in the winter and early spring, then it was sunny and dry through the season but not overly hot. There was also a lot of water in the ground from 2008 so there wasn't hydric stress on the vines as in '03 and '05. There also weren't any heat spikes, which means that the grapes matured steadily, which is also good. The wines are pretty rich but they're more supple than the '05s and '03s, with less firmness and dry character."