Cornas Terres Brûlées

Glass-staining violet color. Displays intense dark fruit preserves, smoked meat and floral scents, along with hints of olive paste, vanilla and exotic spices. Sweet and expansive in the mouth, offering powerful, smoke-tinged boysenberry, cassis and fruitcake flavors that are underscored by a vein of juicy acidity. Concentrated but lively as well, showing superb clarity and a building floral nuance on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish. -J.R.

Vinous - December 2022

Syrah cultivated from 20- to 60-yearold vines, this wine has a fresh, aromatic basket of blackberry, cassis, black licorice, olives, green peppercorn and wild thyme that grows in the glass. The palate is harmonious, with plush tannins that persist through its long mineral and herbaceous finish. —A.C.C.

Wine Enthusiast - December 2023

Pumps out a nice set of plum, black currant and fig paste flavors laced liberally with bay leaf and tapenade accents, all of which are carried by a chalky spine through the lengthy finish. Best from 2023 through 2036. —J.M.

Wine Spectator - February 2022

An excellent introduction to the syrah reds from Cornas. Full nose of tar and smoke with underlying forest-berry aromas. With a little aeration it gains savory and meaty notes. Deep and rich, but with gentle tannins that slowly build together with the smoked-bacon and mineral character. Long, moderately dry finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. – J.S.

James Suckling - April 2022

Blended from parcels where the vines range in age from 20 to 60 years, this has a clarity and ease that makes it inviting, with savory notes of roasted plum, tobacco, licorice and iron presented with lithe tannins. It has enough generosity of flavor to enjoy now, with oxtail roti, though it’s sure to gain in complexity in the cellar over the next five to 10 years. – T.T.

Wine & Spirits - February 2022

Bottled in June 2021, the 2019 Cornas Terres Brulees was made using entirely destemmed clusters, yet retains a few herbal streaks through the dark, cassis-tinged fruit. Hints of crushed stone also appear on the nose. In the mouth, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated and muscular-chunky in style, turning velvety-rich on the finish. Give it a couple of years in the cellar. - J.C.

Wine Advocate - January 2022