2015 Domaine Courbis Cornas Champelrose
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Tasting notes
Moving to the Cornas releases, 2015 is an incredible vintage for this estate. Their 2015 Cornas Champelrose comes from slightly younger vines and was destemmed and brought up primarily in neutral barrels. It's a beautiful, elegant, charming Cornas (not something you say very often) that offers terrific notes of black raspberries, currants, incense, spice and violets. Its tannins are sweet, it's already delicious, yet it should evolve nicely for 10-15 years. The Courbis brothers have hit a home run with these 2015s, the finest wines I’ve tasted from this brilliant estate. All three of the single vineyard Cornas are incredible wines, with the Les Eygats being one of finest Cornas ever made. The 2016s are also terrific wines that aren’t far behind the 2015s, and they’ll be approachable at an earlier age as well.
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Reductive to begin with, but then has a ripe, almost farmyard sort of character to the fruit. Lots of upfront flavour, though it drops away a little on the finish. (RH)
(15 percent new oak) Inky ruby. Smoke-accented aromas of blueberry, cherry pit, licorice and olive are sharpened by a smoky mineral quality. Smooth and expansive on the palate, offering ripe dark berry, cracked pepper and violet pastille flavors that show very good concentration. Supple, slow-building tannins add shape to the smoky, clinging, appealingly sweet finish, which echoes the blue fruit and licorice notes.
Sexy, rounded and voluptuous, the roughly 1,500-case 2015 Cornas Champelrose is the entry-level cuvée that’s all destemmed and aged in 25% new barrels. It's easily the most approachable in this lineup and has gorgeous notes of cured meats, toasted spice, black raspberries, black cherries and licorice. Full-bodied, layered and rounded, it should drink beautifully on release, but evolve gracefully.