1996 Cornas Chaillot

Allemand harvested late in '96 and has bottled Cornas with very good ripeness and texture-as well as a wider range of aromas than most examples from the appellation. Allemand describes his '97 as round, pleasant, easy-to-drink wines that will develop quickly. Water stress in August dried the grapes and produced more supple wines than usual, he adds. Allemand told me that his mother brought samples of his '97s to the local enology lab in Valence, which advised him to add tartaric acidity. He had to assure the enologist that acidification wasn't necessary. Allemand, who has a high percentage of old vines, reported that overall yields were just under 30 hectoliters per hectare in both '97 and '96.