2011 Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes

The rebirth of Saint-Peray as a serious white wine region has been so rapid, Alberic Mazoyer told me in November, "that it seems incredible that a lot of it was sold as Cotes-du-Rhone blanc less than ten years ago [which was the case with Clape, for example], such was the diminished image of theappellation." Voge was for all intents the only source of top-notch Saint-Peray until recently and while there's now competition from big guys like Chapoutier, Jaboulet and Cuilleron, not to mention a number of small growers, Voge is still at the top of the hill, as it were. Mazoyer added, "there's no question that nature has been kind to Cornas for a while now, with only 2002 a genuinely bad vintage, and many recent years have been among the best of a lifetime, like 2010 and 2005."Under Mazoyer's watch the wines at Voge have become more immediately appealing while maintaining a level of structure that he said "will support cellaring, but it won't be as mandatory as it was a generation ago." The reputation for Cornas as "fierce, sauvageand even unfriendly" was much more a function of rustic or careless winemaking than anything that the soil or climate would convey, he said. Yes, it's warmer here than it is farther north, "but it's not an obligation for warm regions to make rough wines, and this is hardly a hot appellation," he mused as we watched heavy snow accumulate in the village on November 21st.

"Since 2011 comes after two amazing vintages, it's destined to be ignored by many people," according to winemaker and director Alberic Mazoyer. That said, he thinks that 2011 "will probably turn out to be superior to the other so-called little years, since 2003 (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008, specifically)," with more fruit as well as bright acidity. "It's a very charming year, with lots of appealing fruit and gentle tannins," he added. "The wines have energy and will be great for drinking over the next five years, at least. They should be drunk up by the time you start in on the 2010s, which deserve patience." There will be no Vieilles Fontaines in 2011 because Mazoyer thinks that Fontaines should showcase the power and ageworthiness of Cornas and this isn't that type of vintage. The set of 2010s here is extremely strong; in fact, it's the most impressive group of wines I can recall tasting chez Voge, but readers are strongly advised to resist the temptation to open them too young. Mazoyer told me, "these are wines that have the potential to be the best since at least 1978," and he hopes that enough bottles are still around 35 years from now to make that point.