2019 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas, Northern Rhone

Tremendously dense and powerful, the 2019 Cornas is a dazzling, dark-fruited beast that's loaded with mint, cassis and licorice notes. Full-bodied and almost overflowing with intensity, it somehow manages to pull all that impressive richness and extract into a silky, fine-grained finish of amazing length and elegance. Unless you are hell-bent on trying it on release, give it some time in the cellar—it should be peaking around 2035 or so.

95-97 points Joe Czerwinski robertparker.com

I met Olivier Clape in the new grape reception area across the road from the family's cellars, where a small amount of Saint-Péray was being processed. They now have a whole hectare in that appellation, a blend of 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne. Harvest had just started here on September 15, so there wasn't yet much else new in the winery. We went back across the road into the cellars for tasting among the old foudres. The 2020 wines surprised me for their concentration and balance. "It was a very early start to the vintage, one of the earliest," said Olivier. With yields down 20% and hot daytime temperatures in July and August, harvest began on August 24, even earlier than in 2003. According to Clape, who worked harvests with Bruce Neyers in California (2006) and Hätsch Kalberer at Fromm in New Zealand (2009), the balance is due to the cool nights, which meant the grapes retained more acidity than in other hot years. After tasting the 2019s and 2018s, we leapt back in time to try the 2011, which Olivier described as "a vintage everyone forgot. A big crop, but good acidity. Very fine." The bottle we tried was certainly drinking well, as was the even more impressive 2001—20 years after the vintage. This family estate continues to produce one of the benchmark wines of the appellation. Prices have risen, but the quality is in the bottle, and the Vin de France Le Vin des Amis and Côtes du Rhône offerings provide less expensive alternatives that give consumers delicious introductions to Northern Rhône Syrah.