2018 Cornas Jouvet

François Villard's approach to winemaking has steadily evolved over the years, from a reliance on lots of ripe fruit and abundant new oak (with wines that showed the effect, often to the extreme) to the elegant but still deeply flavored wines that he's producing today. Villard has moved to using more whole clusters, up to 100% in many instances now, and the new oak presence has been dialed back across the board, in some cases significantly. Villard said that he’s extremely happy with the character of the 2018 vintage because “it can deliver a lot of things to different people. There’s a lot of fruit but there’s also freshness, and the tannins aren’t so strong that you’re forced to hold them – although you could, for at least 10 years.”