Who Are Your Top Cornas Producers and Why Do I Keep Buying?

I’ve found over the past three years that I can’t help myself in the Cornas buying department. These damned wines are so much harsher in their youth then other Northern Rhones but for some reason…I have visions of grandeur in their far off maturity. Below are my top holdings in order of bottles. Who are your top five and why have you prioritized those specific producers? Who am I missing that I should be seeking out (other than Verset)?

  1. Alain Voge
  2. Franck Balthazar
  3. Allemand
  4. Clape
  5. Domaine du Tunnel
  6. Courbis
  7. Johann Michel
  8. Marcel Juge
  9. Vincent Paris

Have you tried Lionnet?

Guillaume Gilles is another must have on your list

I have not but based on your suggestion, just ordered one for delivery next week. Will report back.

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Tried some in their youth and they were ultra tight. One of the most shut down of any cornas I’ve tried to date. How do they develop compared to others?

Alain Verset may be worth checking out.

Just had the ‘10, ‘11 and ‘12 side by side about 3 months ago and they were coming along quite nicely with plenty left in the tank. Definitely starting to come around to being in their drinking windows. The wines are definitely tight in their youth but they are classically made and need time to show well. The Peyrouses is quite nice after 5 years in the cellar though

Verset is good and easily approachable in its youth. Pretty modern style of wine. I just opened the ‘16 at the same dinner we had the Gilles vertical and it was a crowd pleaser but far from the complexity of Gilles

Sounds perfect for Justin then

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Yeah, this and Gilles. Gilles isn’t very expressive young, but gets very good with time. I’m actually not a fan of the Peyrouses, but the Gilles Nouvelle R is very accessible young (and you can open it for your friends that claim to only love natty wines).

Definitely second Guillaume Gilles. I’d also add Mickael Bourg.

Cheers,

Hal

Gilles definitely. His wines do take some time, but I had a '14 recently and thought it was fantastic. Lionnet I think is more approachable in youth. Though, one thing I’ll say about some of these modern makers is I find their wines bit too ‘clean’ or polished.

Justin,
I love your list, especially the Balthazar, Allemand, Clape, and Paris (but only the Geynale). i’ve never had a Juge. One more old school-styled young winemaker to check out is Mickaël Bourg. Old vines in nice vineyards, minuscule production, whole clusters, old wood, no fining/filtering

Drink the Franck Balthazar Côtes du Rhône while you wait for your Cornas to mature. It’s freaking delicious!

Cheers,
Warren

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Thanks Warren for the Balthazar CdR recommendation. Just ordered the 19 from Bottle List, I’m nearby their warehouse.

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My top holdings:

Gilles
Mickael Bourg
Cuchet-Beliando
Sozet
Juge
Dumien-Serrette
Julien Cecillon
Jerome Despesse

As for the “why do (you) keep buying?”, it is a choice, you know.

Funny that I’ve always passed on the Balthazar CdR. I’ll have to revisit that decision. While I’m typically patient in waiting for wines to mature, I like trying them in their youth to get a sense of what they might become. Much easier to do in CdR, St Joseph and Hermitage than in Cornas.

It’s good to see that others are catching on to Mickaël Bourg - these are very exciting wines. I’m eager to see where he goes. I drank a 2018 last summer and it was superb - hearty, meaty, stemmy wildness, all of my favorite things.

And yeah, the Balthazar CdR is very good!

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In a recent head-to-head, I preferred the 19 Chave Selection Mon Coeur CdR to the 19 Balthazar CdR (which I still enjoyed, and would readily drink again).

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Top 3 by the numbers right now:
Juge (No. 1 by a wide margin)
Allemand
Gilles