Tasted vis-a-vis the Nöel Verset 99, this faded and lacked intensity and elegance. But if you look at the wine t self, it is still a fine example of the appellation and the vintage, rucstic, manly, at times af bit akward, but the fruit is very solid as is the feel of the land. I dont see much development here, it will surely keep, but many not improve. #AndréInMemoriam
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9 years since I last had this. Now fully mature. Beautiful raspberry fruit driven nose, hunts of menthol and also oats. Rounded fruit, dense raspberries, deep and full. Good acidity. Meaty, resolved and mature. Beautiful wine. Classic Cornas.
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Quite rustic still. Deeply concentrated, hints of sweet oak, dark fruit, almost creamy in it's fullness. Early maturity - get better and better in the glass. #CP
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I can't really add to what Raage said. This is Cornas of the highest class, hitting the target brilliantly. (Incidentally I tasted it last year against Hermitage la Chapelle 83 and it was the equal..). No hurry to drink up but it will not improve.
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Carafé deux heures ce cornas exprimait avec grâce un joli fruit noir intense. D'une grande pureté, le cassis mêlé de notes animales subtiles offrait une belle distinction. La grande classe. En bouche la finesse et la fraîcheur modelaient le vin et lui prodiguaient une certaine jeunesse. Un grand cornas, sombre, fin, ténébreux.
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Dinner with Peter, Susanne, PPJ, Maria-Terese, Thomas - chez moi (Frederiksberg): A much better bottle than the one who travelled to England, this confirms the impression (as stated by M. Clape lui même) of the '99 as a much smooth, international, Syrah-oriented vintage in Cornas compared to the 1998. This has kirsch, sweetness, fullness - and balance. (#dinner with Peter&Susanne, PPJ etc.)
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A weekend in East Sussex (UK): Lots of medicine-cabinet in the nose, in the mouth more becoming with some soft sweetness from the age & the vintage; it never does lose, though, the awkward and somewhat austere edge, that I often find in this cuvée. I shall have to open another bottle soon to check again, I do not think this will live forever.
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This is somewhere in between my outstanding first bottle and undrinkably flawed second. There's a bretty barnyard/band aid aroma to this wine that is just a bit too strong for me, but not overwhelming. Outside of that, there are a subtle smoky/meaty element, some dried red berries, a bit of charcoal, and quite a bit of dark earth and graphite/slate minerality. The palate is very much the same, with tart red fruits dominating that element, nice med++ acidity, and reasonable but not great concentration. There is a slight awkwardness here, as if not everything is quite working perfectly together. Overall, this is decent but nothing more. Its too-noticeable brett and lack of cohesion hold it back from being better, despite pretty good complexity and a nice state of maturity.
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Sadly, this bottle was ridden with brettanomyces and seemingly some other sort of contamination (lactobacillus?) that made it smell and taste like sour beer. As an Oude Kriek Lambic, this bottle wasn't bad, but as a wine, it was faulty. fingers crossed for my remaining bottles. I hope to have another great experience next time.
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Color: Ruby with slight bricking at the rim Smell: Smoke, granite, dark fruits, and earth Taste: Red, blue, and black fruits blend together with hints of tobacco, clove, and dehydrated beef Overall: Another outstanding bottle that's both powerful and elegant. Medium body, med fruit, and med+ acidity with a medium length finish.
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Color: Ruby Smell: Red fruits, char, cured meats, herbs, and leather Taste: silken layers of red fruits, mushrooms, blueberries, then leading into dark fruits Overall: Outstanding!! This is all about elegance and poise. The purity of flavors is lovely and almost eclipses the silken and delicate power in the mid-palate. Medium body, medium fruit, medium+ acidity, and a long finish. Just beautiful. I have three more bottles of this...and it's going to be difficult not to open these all this year. With good storage I can see this going another 5-8 years or more.
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1990s Rhones at Domaine (Domaine Wine Storage - Chicago, IL): A real show stopper. Had great rich red fruit on the nose, with pepperoni, roasted herbs, earth, and minerals. The palate was firing on all cylinders with great depth and complexity. Layers of old world funk and earth, meshed well with more forward and juicy red and dark fruited flavors. This had a real sense of place, and was just lights out.
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Berry red wine of some sophistication for the first couple of hours in the decanter. The real interest came after that with classic Cornas raspberry scents and a good sauvage edge to it. Very fine but probably 5 years from full maturity. At present needs a 3-4 hour decant to see it at its best.
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Way to much oak upon initial opening, but after a couple of hours in the decanter the oak blows off and this shows a pleasant but relatively simple profile of black fruit with just a whisper of olive/animale. Came off as very international in style and, frankly, was a bit disappointing. I probably should have given it a longer decant. Plenty of stuffing for further development, won't try another bottle for a couple of years.
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Cornas (28-50, London): Dense ribena colour. Quite a modern, dark-red fruited nose with blackcurrant pastille coming through with some raspberry. Similar on palate. Reasonable attack and mid-palate, some acidity. Doesn't excite me though. Top ***
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Deep rich northern rhone syrah with solid fruit to go with the olive and animal from Cornas. Tannin is resolved and the wine is really pleasant to drink and paired nicely with grilled flank steak. Drank the last bits 3 nights later after being corked in the fridge and still a very nice drink enjoyed by even Oz heads
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Still a youthful purple wine when decanted. Rather tight and closed when first tried - nice berry red flavours but little else. But this opened up beautifully after 2-3 hours in the decanter - lovely sauvage edge showing, a bit of cumin and lots of blackcurrants on the nose and a deep dense cassis flavour with a lovely bacon edge to it. Beautifully integrated tannins. Lovely now if given some air and a long life ahead - I'm glad I have a couple more of these.
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Suckling Pin Dinner at St. John (London, UK): Purple in the glass. Clearly has some of the '99 richness but the finish falls off quickly and is dominated by heavy tannins. 50+11+11+7+7 = 86
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My first bottle in over a year...definetely shut down...not nearly as flamboyant as it was a year ago. After an hour, some smoke and earth emerge from the nose, palate dominated by its structure. Will go the distance, but hold off for a couple years before trying again. Will be at least outstanding with time, possibly even better.
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$46.79 retail, after discount. This is probably the fifth bottle of this I have opened. Serious Syrah. Deep, black/red fruit and coffee notes. A solid streak of acid and tannin - yet balanced. Big and still quite primary. I'd say this traditionally rendered Cornas has a long life ahead of it...
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3/18/2021 - beatles wrote: 91 Points
Tasted vis-a-vis the Nöel Verset 99, this faded and lacked intensity and elegance. But if you look at the wine t self, it is still a fine example of the appellation and the vintage, rucstic, manly, at times af bit akward, but the fruit is very solid as is the feel of the land. I dont see much development here, it will surely keep, but many not improve.
#AndréInMemoriam
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1/24/2021 - kevin h wrote: 92 Points
9 years since I last had this. Now fully mature. Beautiful raspberry fruit driven nose, hunts of menthol and also oats. Rounded fruit, dense raspberries, deep and full. Good acidity. Meaty, resolved and mature. Beautiful wine. Classic Cornas.
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9/27/2020 - beatles wrote: 93 Points
Quite rustic still. Deeply concentrated, hints of sweet oak, dark fruit, almost creamy in it's fullness. Early maturity - get better and better in the glass.
#CP
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12/19/2019 - Wineloon Likes this wine: 92 Points
More closed than the 98, holding something back. Long. Potential
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10/9/2016 - rjpbath Likes this wine: 93 Points
I can't really add to what Raage said. This is Cornas of the highest class, hitting the target brilliantly. (Incidentally I tasted it last year against Hermitage la Chapelle 83 and it was the equal..). No hurry to drink up but it will not improve.
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3/6/2016 - Raage Likes this wine: 93 Points
Carafé deux heures ce cornas exprimait avec grâce un joli fruit noir intense.
D'une grande pureté, le cassis mêlé de notes animales subtiles offrait une belle distinction. La grande classe.
En bouche la finesse et la fraîcheur modelaient le vin et lui prodiguaient une certaine jeunesse. Un grand cornas, sombre, fin, ténébreux.
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3/5/2016 - beatles wrote:
Dinner with Peter, Susanne, PPJ, Maria-Terese, Thomas - chez moi (Frederiksberg): A much better bottle than the one who travelled to England, this confirms the impression (as stated by M. Clape lui même) of the '99 as a much smooth, international, Syrah-oriented vintage in Cornas compared to the 1998. This has kirsch, sweetness, fullness - and balance. (#dinner with Peter&Susanne, PPJ etc.)
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7/11/2015 - beatles wrote:
A weekend in East Sussex (UK): Lots of medicine-cabinet in the nose, in the mouth more becoming with some soft sweetness from the age & the vintage; it never does lose, though, the awkward and somewhat austere edge, that I often find in this cuvée. I shall have to open another bottle soon to check again, I do not think this will live forever.
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1/9/2014 - missatiejacket wrote:
This is somewhere in between my outstanding first bottle and undrinkably flawed second. There's a bretty barnyard/band aid aroma to this wine that is just a bit too strong for me, but not overwhelming. Outside of that, there are a subtle smoky/meaty element, some dried red berries, a bit of charcoal, and quite a bit of dark earth and graphite/slate minerality. The palate is very much the same, with tart red fruits dominating that element, nice med++ acidity, and reasonable but not great concentration. There is a slight awkwardness here, as if not everything is quite working perfectly together. Overall, this is decent but nothing more. Its too-noticeable brett and lack of cohesion hold it back from being better, despite pretty good complexity and a nice state of maturity.
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12/12/2013 - missatiejacket wrote: flawed
Sadly, this bottle was ridden with brettanomyces and seemingly some other sort of contamination (lactobacillus?) that made it smell and taste like sour beer. As an Oude Kriek Lambic, this bottle wasn't bad, but as a wine, it was faulty. fingers crossed for my remaining bottles. I hope to have another great experience next time.
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10/9/2013 - Kirk Grant wrote:
What a rock-star wine! This was just in a lovely place...all the elegance wraped in a powerful frame. Just lovely...
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7/14/2013 - Kirk Grant wrote:
Color: Ruby with slight bricking at the rim
Smell: Smoke, granite, dark fruits, and earth
Taste: Red, blue, and black fruits blend together with hints of tobacco, clove, and dehydrated beef
Overall: Another outstanding bottle that's both powerful and elegant. Medium body, med fruit, and med+ acidity with a medium length finish.
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4/28/2013 - Kirk Grant wrote:
Color: Ruby
Smell: Red fruits, char, cured meats, herbs, and leather
Taste: silken layers of red fruits, mushrooms, blueberries, then leading into dark fruits
Overall: Outstanding!! This is all about elegance and poise. The purity of flavors is lovely and almost eclipses the silken and delicate power in the mid-palate. Medium body, medium fruit, medium+ acidity, and a long finish. Just beautiful. I have three more bottles of this...and it's going to be difficult not to open these all this year. With good storage I can see this going another 5-8 years or more.
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11/18/2012 - tooch wrote: 95 Points
1990s Rhones at Domaine (Domaine Wine Storage - Chicago, IL): A real show stopper. Had great rich red fruit on the nose, with pepperoni, roasted herbs, earth, and minerals. The palate was firing on all cylinders with great depth and complexity. Layers of old world funk and earth, meshed well with more forward and juicy red and dark fruited flavors. This had a real sense of place, and was just lights out.
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1/22/2012 - kevin h wrote: 91 Points
Berry red wine of some sophistication for the first couple of hours in the decanter. The real interest came after that with classic Cornas raspberry scents and a good sauvage edge to it. Very fine but probably 5 years from full maturity. At present needs a 3-4 hour decant to see it at its best.
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12/18/2010 - DHJ1968 wrote:
Way to much oak upon initial opening, but after a couple of hours in the decanter the oak blows off and this shows a pleasant but relatively simple profile of black fruit with just a whisper of olive/animale. Came off as very international in style and, frankly, was a bit disappointing. I probably should have given it a longer decant. Plenty of stuffing for further development, won't try another bottle for a couple of years.
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11/8/2010 - SimonG wrote:
Cornas (28-50, London): Dense ribena colour. Quite a modern, dark-red fruited nose with blackcurrant pastille coming through with some raspberry. Similar on palate. Reasonable attack and mid-palate, some acidity. Doesn't excite me though. Top ***
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9/11/2010 - drwine2001 wrote:
Napa Who? Lunch with Non-Indigenous Wines (Yountville, California): Dark and primary looking. Sweaty, black fruit Syrah aromatics. Taut, classic, lean, youthful. Good now, needs plenty of time.
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5/17/2010 - Mr T wrote:
Deep rich northern rhone syrah with solid fruit to go with the olive and animal from Cornas. Tannin is resolved and the wine is really pleasant to drink and paired nicely with grilled flank steak. Drank the last bits 3 nights later after being corked in the fridge and still a very nice drink enjoyed by even Oz heads
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3/16/2008 - kevin h wrote:
Still a youthful purple wine when decanted. Rather tight and closed when first tried - nice berry red flavours but little else. But this opened up beautifully after 2-3 hours in the decanter - lovely sauvage edge showing, a bit of cumin and lots of blackcurrants on the nose and a deep dense cassis flavour with a lovely bacon edge to it. Beautifully integrated tannins. Lovely now if given some air and a long life ahead - I'm glad I have a couple more of these.
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10/10/2006 - Russell Faulkner wrote: 92 Points
St John Offline (St John, London): Very different, smoked meat and dirt, resolute tannins, too young.
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10/6/2006 - JeffGMorris wrote: 86 Points
Suckling Pin Dinner at St. John (London, UK): Purple in the glass. Clearly has some of the '99 richness but the finish falls off quickly and is dominated by heavy tannins. 50+11+11+7+7 = 86
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12/4/2005 - Les Alpilles wrote: 90 Points
My first bottle in over a year...definetely shut down...not nearly as flamboyant as it was a year ago. After an hour, some smoke and earth emerge from the nose, palate dominated by its structure. Will go the distance, but hold off for a couple years before trying again. Will be at least outstanding with time, possibly even better.
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11/30/2005 - DianeR wrote:
Still very closed. Notes of coffee and olives on the nose. Waiting to see how this opens up.
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11/12/2004 - Ben Andersen wrote:
$46.79 retail, after discount. This is probably the fifth bottle of this I have opened. Serious Syrah. Deep, black/red fruit and coffee notes. A solid streak of acid and tannin - yet balanced. Big and still quite primary. I'd say this traditionally rendered Cornas has a long life ahead of it...
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