2001 Cornas Reynard Sans Soufre
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Tasting notes
Bright medium ruby. Pure aromas of blackberry, black raspberry and violet; more deeply pitched and less expressive today than the Chaillot. Bigger and thicker in the mouth but also with terrific verve and floral perfume. Clearly higher in volatile acidity than the Chaillot. (Incidentally, my sample of the 2001 Verset Cornas, which I assume was from Verset's later bottling following the summer of 2003, was unacceptably volatile, with a dominant flavor of grapefruit. ) But still rather closed on the finish, which features excellent density, strong peppery tannins and impressive persistence.
Critic scores
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Saturated bright deep ruby. Intensely spicy, complex aromas of cassis, blackberry, blueberry, black olive and bitter chocolate. Thick, round, dense and peppery; a huge, powerful wine with great mouth coverage and impressive underlying structure. An intriguing violet note lifts the intense black fruit flavors. A great expression of syrah in Cornas. Finishes very long, with lush, broad tannins, a touch of oak spice, and a flavor of bitter chocolate. I tasted a representative blend from four barrels. These 2001s are not particularly reduced despite the fact that they have been in barrel for a year without being racked.
About the producer
Allemand’s wines set the benchmark for Cornas: expressive Syrahs crafted with uncompromising traditional methods and released in tiny quantities. From the 1980s, he revived abandoned vineyards on Cornas’s steep granite slopes, building his domaine without inherited land or financial support.