2003 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas Renaissance

Community Tasting Notes (15) Avg Score: 90.6 points

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  10/3/2021 - kuumies wrote:

  Sweetly fruited and herbal on the nose with smoke and a hint of oxidation. Pleasant, if not terribly complex or exciting. On the palate on the rich side and somewhat heady. Gentle on the entry but then the somewhat coarse tannins emerge and grip powerfully. Very much alive but the fruit has dried up a bit and the finish is tiring. Somewhat past its peak.

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  10/2/2021 - forceberry wrote: 87 Points

  The young-vine Cornas cuvée of Clape, sourced from multiple vineyards averaging 20-30 yo. Fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts in open-top fermentors, aged for 20-22 months in old 600-1200-liter oak foudres. Bottled unfiltered. 14% alcohol.
  
  Evolved and somewhat translucent maroon color. Very evolved and subtly oxidative nose with quite tertiary aromas of raisins, sweet plum liqueur, some beef jerky tones, a little bit of sweet balsamic VA and a hint of dried dates. The wine feels ripe, full-bodied and quite sweetly-fruited on the palate with powerful but also slightly tired flavors of raisins and prunes, some ripe blackberry tones, a little bit of blackcurrant marmalade, light earthy notes, oxidative hints of beef jerky and meat consommé and a sweet volatile touch of balsamico. As one would expect from a 2003 Cornas, the acidity feels rather modest and the structure relies more on the assertive and somewhat rustic tannins. The finish is ripe, long and somewhat sweet-toned with a little bit of alcohol heat along with sunny and quite tertiary flavors of wizened blackcurrants and raisins, some meat stew, a little bit of blackcurrant marmalade, light pruney tones, a balsamic hint of VA and an oxidative touch of beef jerky.
  
  The vintage really shows here. Although the wine is still pretty much drinkable, it suffered quite badly in the company of better wines from better vintages. The overall feel is getting rather tired, oxidation has already started to creep in and the quite modest acidity makes the wine feel a bit ponderous. I wouldn't say the wine is at its plateau of maturity; it has already taken its first steps downhill. No point in aging these bottles any further, there's only one way from here and it is not up.

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  12/9/2019 - 87tellub Likes this wine: 92 Points

  PnP. Medium purple with a garnet rim. Initial nose is floral, purple and violet with briny black olive. It's more pretty that bold/masculine/meaty, which is what I had expected (the latter).
  
  Palate seems to show development. Medium bodied. Notes of iron, some soft blackberry, black licorice, more olive. This bottle doesn't show pepper or meat qualities to me. Nicely built wine and ready to go but I do say it still has several years of life in front of it.
  
  Update: Absolutely rockin on night 2. So much so that I raised my score from 90 to 92.
  
  Note: I did not decant and there is a decent amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottle.

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  12/14/2018 - Bordeaux_Jon Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Better than expected. I know 2003 was a controversial year because of the heat, but I didn't see any negative effects on this wine. Perhaps it is a bit more fruity and ready to drink than if from a different year, but that worked in my favour this time. Rather light in colour, the nose evolved over a number of hours showing delicate red fruit, strawberries? and then white pepper, and later bacon and meaty notes. Some cigar and oak is also present. I felt this wine worked in the tasting as representing Northern Rhone character. The palate was smooth and easy to drink. Quite nice all around without obvious Cornas rusticity. Seems at a good place now but unlikely to fall off a cliff either.

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  11/10/2018 - Mige Likes this wine:

  Dark dried fruits, earthiness, truffle and meat with maillard reaction. Wine is medium bodied with really smooth tannins and nice acidity. I was waiting for a bit bigger wine but really can't complain - it has such amazing drinkability! On the palate the dried fruits are present but also there are some leather and smoked meats. This wasn't from a great vintage but still really nice so how great are the ones from a good vintage and especially their proper Cornas from a great vintage.

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