Matt Walls picks the 12 best Cornas wines to open now or save for later

The tortuous granite hills behind the village of Cornas are abrupt, corrugated and sun-baked. Viticulture is physically challenging. What you find in the bottle reflects this extreme terroir – dramatic, muscular reds with tensile tannins.

Once considered the rough-and-ready country cousin of Côte-Rôtie, Cornas has developed impressively in recent years. At the opposite end of the northern Rhône region, this hot, more southerly terroir makes for a very different expression.

If Côte-Rôtie offers a precise and polished rendition of Syrah, then Cornas plays it unplugged.

Scroll down for Matt’s Cornas vintage selection

Wild ride

Landholdings here are necessarily small and parcels are prized by the families that own them. Only relatively recently have bottle prices allowed vignerons to look to the vines for their primary income.

Until the late 1980s, the vineyards might only be tended at weekends. Back then, winemaking was more intuitive than scientific and Cornas had a reputation for rusticity, caused by dirty barrels.

Today, winemakers are professionally trained and the brettanomyces (a type of spoilage yeast which creates ‘farmyardy’ aromas that some find offputting) has been largely eradicated.

The natural wildness of these wines has been preserved, however. The French have a wonderful word for it: sauvage.

This assertive, punchy style of 100% Syrah can make for long-lived wines. Sometimes they need extended periods in bottle to settle down – the tooth-and-claw tannins of Cornas can be rapacious in youth.

But in good vintages they have the lifeforce and freshness they need in order to sustain a lengthy hibernation, resulting in wines of immense complexity, elegance and staying power.

As the wines age, expect wild herbs and smoke to emerge from the black fruits, then layers of leather, game and mushroom notes to develop, adding umami depths.

Their natural salinity and blackberry acidity remain, their cleansing tannins smoothed but not blunted.

The following are six vintages to have on your radar: three to drink now and three to tuck away.

Cornas can age unpredictably sometimes, but years such as these, from the winemakers listed below, shouldn’t let you down.

Cornas to drink now

2016

The southern Rhône garnered most of the attention in 2016, but quality in the north was also exceptional.

While the south saw ideal growing conditions, according to Olivier Clape of Domaine Clape, Cornas suffered ‘a very complicated season with lots of rain, and mildew pressure all year until the end of July’.

However, the weather in August and September was ‘magnificent’, leading to a mid-September harvest. Nine years is on the young side to open Cornas, but all eight of the 2016s that I tasted were ready now, displaying classic Cornas structure and aromatic complexity.

It’s an athletic vintage – neither massive nor very concentrated but mineral and focused, with fresh acidity and palate-cleansing tannins.

A vintage that will age well on its freshness and balance, typically to around 2035.

2010

A vintage that was lauded on release but that has largely remained stubbornly closed and introverted. Until now that is – they are finally starting to open up. Rejoice! Grab your corkscrews!

It’s a vintage that has it all: freshness, balance, harmony, complexity… It’s indisputably an excellent year and a very long-lived one – the best will last to 2050 and beyond.

Olivier Clape remembers an ‘exceptional’ vintage: ‘The weather was perfect,’ he recalls. ‘Rain but not too much, heat but not too much. Even if the vintage was early the wines are very well balanced. It’s all down to the month of August, which was hot but always had cool nights, which is rare. That’s what made the vintage.’

2006

This is a year that sometimes gets forgotten, but it’s a smart pick if you’re looking for mature Cornas.

The 2005s were talked up on release – the wines have huge energy and robust tannins – but some still haven’t reached their peak.

The three 2006s that I tasted still had life ahead of them but were fully mature, displaying a resinous complexity, harmony and a lovely sense of freshness, still. It’s all thanks to a benevolent growing season and a particularly fine September.

Back then, a typical vintage in Cornas still took place in mid-September (today, late August or early September is more common), so vignerons were free to pick at the perfect point of balance and ripeness.

Cornas to drink later

2020

A vintage with ‘silky tannins and lots of fruit’ that’s been ‘very open and accessible since bottling’, according to Guillaume Gilles.

This was confirmed during the tasting – you could drink many 2020s straight away, but try to resist if you can, as the best is yet to come.

There was some localised mildew due to a wet spring, but the subsequent season was hot and dry, producing well-balanced wines – ripe and structured with good concentration and no heaviness.

This is a very likeable year that’s an obvious choice if you’re looking for a good vintage that will be ready to drink soon then develop for a few decades. The best might surprise us with even longer lives thanks to their harmonious profiles.

2019

Huge wines! The quality is mixed, however. Some are breathtaking and will age brilliantly, others are overripe, overoaked, overalcoholic – simply too much. But choose wisely and there are some truly great wines.

It’s not the most classic expression – very powerful, even for Cornas – but the best are impossible to ignore.

It was a hot, dry vintage with some dramatic heat spikes. You can feel the extreme nature of the season in the bottle, with wines that are ‘structured and powerful with quite marked acidity’, according to Clape.

Given the heat, the wines’ acidity is a pleasant surprise – and crucial to balance out the concentrated fruit, intense tannins and elevated alcohol.

‘Even before fermentation, the juice was as black and complex as wine!’ says Gilles. Most will start opening up in the next few years.

2015

Gilles remembers a fairly easy growing season: ‘Rather dry and hot but without excess, and some rains at the right moments in summer. The resulting wines aren’t far off the perfect balance – serious wines with lots of class.’

The 2015s share a number of traits with 2019, but 2015 is more consistent overall.

It’s an immense vintage – titanic wines with skyscraper tannins, incredible concentration and piercing intensity and salinity.

Due to its huge proportions, not everybody made balanced wines – some suffer from unruly tannins – however, the best are wines for the ages. They may not be as friendly as the 2016s, but the 2015s will last a great deal longer.

They’re easily as powerful as the 2010s, and like the wines of that year, you really must wait until they’re ready, which will be around 2028, if not later.

Those who wait will be richly rewarded. It’s an excellent vintage and one that you definitely want in your collection.

10 leading Cornas producers to know

Domaine A&E Verset

Alain Verset has now handed over to his daughter Emmanuelle, one of the few female winemakers in the village. Excellent parcels of old vines create wines with sublime finesse, particularly her cuvée Signature. See Facebook

Domaine Alain Voge

Alain Voge was a leading winemaker in the village. Since his death in 2020, the estate has been successfully guided by Lionel Fraisse. The cuvées Vieilles Vignes and Les Vieilles Fontaines are delicious and ageworthy. alain-voge.com

Domaine Clape

The Clape family is a cornerstone of the Cornas appellation – its traditional style has remained largely unchanged for generations. Its wines exhibit all the intensity of its exceptional parcels of old vines and can last for decades. 146 Avenue du Colonel-Rousset

Domaine du Coulet

Highly characterful wines from iconoclast Matthieu Barret (pictured). His graffitied winery has no barrels – he matures his wines in diamond-shaped concrete tanks. His Cornas cuvées are lighter in tannin than most and have spellbinding aromatic complexity. domaineducoulet.com

Domaine du Tunnel

From his unusual winery, which occupies a disused railway tunnel just outside St-Péray, winemaker Stéphane Robert makes bold, powerful Cornas. An estate that continually evolves and improves. domaine-du-tunnel.fr

Domaine Franck Balthazar

Wild and thrilling natural-leaning Cornas, more about purity and vibrancy than huge tannic structures.

Unusually for Cornas, they often drink well young, particularly his no-added-sulphite bottling Sans Soufre Ajouté. 8 Rue des Violettes

Domaine Guillaume Gilles

Gilles worked under past master Robert Michel. When this legendary producer retired, Gilles bought some of his best vineyards.

All whole bunch-fermented, no new oak and a light touch in the cellar makes for classical Cornas of the highest standard. gillesguillaume@neuf.fr

Domaine Johann Michel

Michel bought half a hectare of Cornas in 1997 and, single-handed, has built his estate up to 4ha. Between modern and traditional in style, his wines are concentrated but also approachable. domaine-johann-michel.fr

Domaine Thierry Allemand

Thierry’s not from a family of winemakers, but after showing early promise his father bought him a small parcel of vines in 1982. He now has 5ha that he works organically with his son Théo.

Highly sought-after today, their wines bring elegance and purity to the characteristic wildness of Cornas. 22 Impasse des Granges

Domaine Vincent Paris

Paris is best known for his exceptional single-vineyard bottling La Geynale (see recent vertical tasting on Decanter Premium online).

In good vintages, his other Cornas cuvées, Granit 30 and Granit 60, offer unbeatable value for money. vin-paris.com

Other names worth seeking out include: Domaine Aurélien Chatagnier, Domaine Chaboud Cellier, Domaine Dumien Serrette, Domaine Lionnet, Domaine Thomas Farge, Ferraton.

12 Cornas wines to either enjoy now or cellar

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