Wine Advisor
Alain Voge, Cornas Les Vieilles Fontaines 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Dark purple. Deep-pitched cassis, blueberry, candied licorice and violet aromas are complicated by olive and licorice nuances. Broad and expansive on the palate, offering deeply concentrated black and blue fruit liqueur, spicecake and floral pastille flavors and an incense-tinged flourish of smoky minerals. Becomes sweeter and more energetic with air and finishes extremely long and spicy, with slow-building tannins and lingering florality.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Vivid purple. A highly complex bouquet evokes ripe blue fruits, Moroccan spices, violet and olive, along with a vibrant mineral nuance. Stains the palate with sweet black and blue fruit flavors that are given spine and lift by a core of juicy acidity and a strong jolt of cracked pepper. Becomes livelier with aeration and finishes extremely long and sweet, with smooth tannins making a late appearance.
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
I'm not sure the 2016 Cornas Vieilles Fontaines has the fruit to handle the 24 months I was told it would spend in oak—time will tell. When tasted in September, it was looking toasty and cedary, with menthol notes over red plum and strawberry flavors. Full-bodied, yet simultaneously tart, herbal and oaky, it was looking rather disjointed and more interesting than truly pleasurable.
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
Looking much better than the sample I reviewed last year, the 2016 Cornas Vieilles Fontaines has come into its own. It's still cedary but also mammothly concentrated in blackberry and plum fruit, all underscored by notes of crushed granite. Full-bodied and muscular, it's elegant at the same time, with mouthwatering, juicy fruit and softly dusty tannins on the long finish.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Vivid purple. A highly complex bouquet evokes ripe blue fruits, Moroccan spices, violet and olive, along with a vibrant mineral nuance. Stains the palate with sweet black and blue fruit flavors that are given spine and lift by a core of juicy acidity and a strong jolt of cracked pepper. Becomes livelier with aeration and finishes extremely long and sweet, with smooth tannins making a late appearance.
About the Producer
Domaine Alain Voge is a family-run winery based in Cornas and has over time built itself the reputation as a superstar of the appellation and its benchmark without doubt. It was founded many generations ago but was blessed with the talented beginnings in winemaking by Alain himself in 1958. Alain tore up the rule book, updated the winemaking techniques of his father, expanded the vineyards and began bottling his wines himself. With over 70 parcels of vines totaling seven hectares, it is no wonder that Alain Voge sometimes seems distracted. Half in jest, he says that the reason he harvests so late is to figure out which vines are his. He spent some time under Albéric Mazoyer, manager and associate of Alain Voge from 2004-2018, before progressing further and making a start in organic production. Thus, since 2013,the whole vineyard is run using biodynamic agriculture, where an artisan and entirely manual viticulture is practiced on the slopes of the Rhône’s rive droite. Since 2018,Lionel Fraissehas been at the helm. He continues to champion the sustainable winemaking of his predecessors.
