2017 Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes

Winemaker Lionnel Fraise described 2017 as of “high quality but bad quantity,” noting that yields were off by around a third, on average, in Voge’s six-and-a-half hectares of vineyards in the Cornas appellation. He added that “it’s a more serious vintage than 2016 and 2018” and that the 2017s should be drunk after the wines from those years. On the subject of the 2018s, he called the wines “generous but not heavy and loose. They’re unlikely to shut down for too long because the tannins are well-enrobed in the fruit, so it would be a surprise to see them close up.”

Longtime partner and winemaker Albéric Mazoyer, who came on board here in 2004, is greatly responsible for reviving this historic domaine’s image and, most important quality. He has passed the baton on to long-time assistant winemaker Lionel Fraisse, who joined in 2012. A native of Saint-Péray from a long line of vineyard owners and growers, Fraisse’s presence has been steadily increasing over the last few years. Based on the quality of the ‘17s, Fraisse’s first solo vintage, things are in very good hands here. If anything, I’ll be looking for a possible swing toward greater elegance in the Voge wines, given Fraisse’s experience and affinity, not to mention lineage, with the mineral-driven white wines of Saint-Péray. Voge is not afraid of the judicious use of whole clusters, especially when he thinks they can bring backbone to the wines, noting that “it is historic, after all.” He’s also very happy with the measured use of new oak that the domaine has been following in recent years. Mostly because of meagre yields the Vieilles Fontaines cuvée was not produced from the 2017 vintage, that prized juice has found its way downstream, mostly to the Vieilles Vignes bottling.