Wine Advisor
Alain Voge, Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes 2013
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: James Suckling
A complex and fragrant old-vine expression crafted by Voge, a domaine with a keen eye for purity in Cornas. This really captures the essence of dark-plum fruits and dark stones here, running long and deep, and it's characterized a lot of complexity. The tannins are definitely shaped for the long haul, and this should prove best from 2020 and even a decade after that.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
Deeper, richer and more structured, the 2013 Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes has beautiful depth and richness in its blackberry, liquid rock, burning ember and pepper-laced bouquet. Possessing vibrant acidity, the tannin is sweet and it’s nicely concentrated through the middle. I suspect short-term cellaring will be required, but it should evolve nicely for 10-15 years.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
Bottle in June, the 2013 Cornas Vieilles Vignes is a beautiful Cornas that exhibits textbook notes of black cherries, liquid violets, lots of crushed rock-like minerality and ample peppery herbs. Albéric commented on the difficulty in getting ripe tannins, but there's no tannin issues with this 2013, and it has medium-bodied depth and richness, integrated acidity and solid overall ripeness. Give it a 2-3 years in the cellar and enjoy bottles over the following decade or so.
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.
