2014 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas Renaissance- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (3/21/2017)
Dark, nearly opaque garnet, deep, brooding medium depth, dark plum with violet overtones, excellent acidity gives it a bit more lift and juicy feel than its big brother Cornas, good medium structure, some very nice complexity, almost volcanic, very nice! Needs time, though its more open right now than the “Cornas”. I love “off” vintages, and this is another demonstrationg (92 pts.)
2014 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas (3/21/2017)
Dark, opaque garnet; dark, very brooding, deep plum/blackberry, very rocky, mineral, quite structured, this needs a lot of time, a little hard to read at this young stage. Opens with air to be just a bit more generous, but still quite reserved. There is plenty of good material here, though it’s in hiding at the moment. I love the dark, secretive intensity, quite a good result in a difficult vintage. Buy this and hold it for 10-15 years. Giving it a score to reflect long term potential. (93 pts.)
I had the '14 Cuvee des Amis this past summer in France and my TN would read exactly like this. Very tight with just a little blue fruit and minerality poking through. Not very enjoyable today.
Good notes, Alan. I drank a bottle of the 2014 Cornas with my dinner group when it was first released about six months ago and, as you say, it was hard to read, except that one gets the density and energy of the wine. It may be another 2008 in the making which, as you know, is quite delicious today.
Markus, I didn’t open my own bottles, this was at a local wine shop tasting bar, where I try a lot of wines (but don’t often post on them, but in this case I thought it might be useful).
Martin, you could be right, though these 14s seemed to have more oomph than the 08 did at the same point. I think they might be quite long lived classics. Either way, a great success in growing and winemaking, given the vintage conditions. Interestingly, they both seem to have more stuffing and depth than what I tasted in the cellar a year ago.
Alan,
I was there Saturday night.
I thought the bottle of Clape Renaissance was corked.
I told Victor but he couldn’t tell (had a sinus thing going).
Interesting that two other guys couldn’t tell when I mentioned to them (and one of them is there all the time)