This wine is a great achievement.
The vintage

The quality of the wines, once again, has lived up to our expectations – offering some compensation for the yields in 2010 being extremely low, even lower than those of 2009 – already classified as a capricious vintage.
Relatively challenging conditions prevailed until the beginning of September…
Frost and humidity in the spring resulted in coulure (flower dropping). Grenache was particularly susceptible.
Cool weather during the summer and fairly strong rains at the beginning of September made for very slow and uneven maturation. Fortunately, remarkably good weather followed and the fruit took full advantage of the very favorable conditions - by mid-September, warm weather was certainly back. The vines, with a relatively small potential harvest, were ready to take full advantage of the optimal conditions. Those vignerons that were attentive waited, patiently, until optimal maturity was reached…
As a result, the fruit that was picked was essentially perfect, with superb concentration and ideal acidity levels, making wines with exceptional balance,
an exceptional achievement.
The 2010 vintage is already impressive and has so much promise and so much charm.

Terroir

Les Chaillots, Saint-Pierre, les Savaux, la Sabarote.

Ageing

Tronçais and Allier new barrels.

Tasting

It is generous and rich, luscious on the palate, supported by soft tannins. Very typical of the appellation, this finishes with sultry, savoury notes of smoked bacon.

Alcohol content

13%

Bottling

No fining, no filtration.

Cépages

Serine
Syrah

Michael Tardieu culls this wine from four vineyards in Cornas, the youngest vines more than half a century old. It shows the cool vintage beautifully, minty herbal notes adding extra freshness to the juicy red plum fruit. It may be light but it's also firm, the granite-cool minerality hovering just under the surface, with enough tannic grip to take on a Mangalitsa pork chop.

Tara Q Thomas
Wine & Spirit , 91/100 , 2014-02-01

This stood out among the Cornas tasted for this issue as being unusually red-fruited and herbal. Stewed raspberries tinged with briar stems manage to be mouthwatering despite some drying tannins. Not sure where this is headed.

Joe Cerwinzki
Wine Enthusiast , 87/100 , 2013-10-01

This has a nice sanguine note up front that melds into the core of crushed plum, blackberry and macerated black currant fruit. The very sleek iron-framed finish has excellent purity and drive.

James Molesworth
Wine Spectator , 93/100 , 2012-10-31

Opaque purple. Aromas of blackberry, blueberry, licorice and dark chocolate, lifted by a violet topnote. Dense, chewy and sweet, with broad, mouthfilling dark fruit flavors and a complicating note of black cardamom. This rich but lively Cornas finishes with molten tannins and excellent grip.

Josh Raynolds
Stephen Tanzers International Wine Cellar , 91-93/100 , 2012-04-01

From 50-plus-year-old vines. Exceptionally dark crimson. Powerful liquorice nose. A great fan of super-clean fruit almost hides the tannins but they are there in abundance. Aftertaste recalls an exceptionally powerful engine exhaust – in a positive way! Massive structure but it’s all muscle; no fat. Dry finish. Great stuff for the future.

Jancis Robinson , 17,5/20 , 2011-11-28