Wine Advisor
Auguste Clape, Cornas 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Dark purple. Deep-pitched, mineral-accented black and blue fruit liqueur, olive and floral pastille aromas develop peppery spice and cola notes with aeration. Sappy and deeply concentrated on the palate, offering boysenberry, cassis and fruitcake flavors that are sharpened by smoky mineral and cracked pepper flourishes. The mineral note drives the extremely long, energetic finish, and chewy tannins provide shape and solid grip.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Opaque ruby. Heady, smoke- and spice-tinged aromas of dark berry preserves, candied licorice and olive; an intense mineral quality adds urgency. Chewy, broad and focused on the palate, offering appealingly sweet boysenberry and cassis flavors and powerful spicecake and floral pastille flourishes. In a lush, decadent but lively style and not at all outsized. Finishes smooth, smoky and extremely long, displaying repeating spiciness and velvety tannins.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Vivid purple. Powerful, mineral-accented blackberry, licorice pastille, pungent flowers and olive on the nose, and a smoky bacon nuance in the background. Velvety, focused and impressively concentrated, offering black and blue fruit liqueur and candied violet flavors that tighten up slowly with air. Supple, harmonious tannins make a late appearance, giving shape to a strikingly long, smoke- and mineral-tinged finish.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
The two Cornas releases in 2015 are head-turners that warrant serious attention. The flagship 2015 Cornas comes from the older vines of the estate, with a good chunk from the Reynard lieu-dit, which is unquestionably one of the grand cru sites in the appellation. This is a big, rich, sexy vintage from this estate and the top cuvée has a wealth of material and building, sweet tannin, as well as full-bodied richness and a great finish. It’s more approachable than the 2010 was at the same age, but it’s still going to require 5-7 years of cellaring. It’s a brilliant wine.
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
Clape’s flagship 2015 Cornas is enormously complex and compelling. Almond skin, cherries, blood and herbal notes all combine on the nose, while on the palate this medium to full-bodied wine is firmly tannic but ripe and balanced, with a rich, velvety and nearly endless finish.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
A more floral and perfumed wine than the 2015 Renaissance. Violets add interest to plenty peppery red plums and wild red berries. Darker berries, graphite and stony notes, too. So much here. The palate arrives in silky ribbon-like mode, it has a very long core of blackberries, licorice and spiced plum flavors. Superior definition in the tannin department. A taut finish. Drink from 2025.
About the Producer
Domaine Auguste Clape is located in the Rhone Valley region of France. The estate was founded by the Clape Family and is now run by Pierre-Marie Clape and Oliver Clape. Château Auguste Clapa now has 8 hectares of vineyards, all on terraces within the Colnas appellation. Due to the steep terrain of the vineyards, plantation management is carried out by hand. There are no formal rules for the vineyard, but rather the most traditional planting patterns, based on intuition, experience and common sense. The vineyard soil is mainly granite and clay, and the main grape varieties are Syrah and Marsanne, with an average vine age of 40 years. The grapes are hand-picked and carefully selected before being used in the production of the wines. The must for the Domaine Auguste Clape Saint-Peray Blanc is fermented in concrete tanks and, after fermentation, the wine is matured in stainless steel tanks for 8 months. The must for the red wines is fermented in large wooden vats and the length of fermentation is usually 12 days. Of these, the Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas and the Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas Renaissance are matured for 22 months in 600 litre or 1,200 litre vats. The Domaine Auguste Clape Cote du Rhone and the Domaine Auguste Clape Le Vin des Aims are matured for 6 months in concrete tanks and large wooden barrels respectively.
