Wine Advisor
Thierry Allemand, Cornas Reynard 2011
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Incredible florals and fragrance here. Alluring dark cherry and plum fruits with a dark, meaty and slate-like stony edge. The tannins are exceptional, very long and very deep, delivering a plush palate with a firm, deep-set plum stone finish. Drink now.
Reviewed by: Stuart Pigott
A hypnotic, maturing nose of dried herbs, spices, raw meat and tar. Then on the very focused, full-bodied palate, there's incredible energy for a wine that's 14 years of age. Huge finish that's precisely balanced. The longer you look into the well of minerality in the finish, the deeper it gets. Drink or hold.
About the Producer
Thierry Allemand is located in the Cornas appellation of the Rhone Valley in France. Like the sleeping beauty of the Rhone Valley, Cornas has just awakened from its slumber. The wines produced here were once praised by Charlemagne, but for centuries they were under-appreciated. It was not until 1980 that a passionate winemaker with a dream arrived in Cornas and woke her up from her slumber: Thierry Allemand. At the age of 18, Thierry Allemand came to work at the Robert Michel winery in Colnas, and at the age of 19, he began making his first barrels of wine. He worked at the winery during the day and ran his own 1.5 hectare vineyard in his spare time. In 1987 he started selling his raw wine to wine merchants and in 1991 he started producing and commercialising bottled wine. After 15 years of running two jobs at the same time, he built Château Tillarimont with his own efforts, without taking out a bank loan. Château Tillarimont is situated on a north-south facing slope on the west bank of the Rhone Valley and covers just under 5 hectares. The vineyard soil is mainly composed of limestone-clay and granite soils, where there is plenty of light and the grapes tend to ripen early. The vineyard is dedicated to Syrah grapes and all the ripe grapes are hand-picked. Like all of the Corners legal reds, Thierry Allemande's wines are made from 100% Syrah. These wines are generally powerful, heavy-bodied, with supple, ripe tannins and intense aromas of red fruit, spice and liquorice.
