Wine Advisor
Thierry Allemand, Cornas Reynard 2014
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Youthful violet. Intense, mineral-accented aromas of blackberry and boysenberry, joined by suave Indian spice and incense notes as the wine opens up. Youthfully nervy and focused on the palate, offering bright blue fruit, violet and spicecake flavors that show outstanding clarity and mineral lift. Closes sappy and pure, showing harmonious tannins and leaving a vibrant blue fruit note behind.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Brilliant purple. Intensely perfumed, mineral-tinged scents of musky cherry pit, blueberry, candied licorice and olive; a smoky bacon nuance builds quickly in the glass. Densely packed and appealingly sweet, offering sappy, sharply focused black and blue fruit and floral pastille flavors complicated by suggestions of spicecake and floral pastilles. This sexy wine hits all the classic Syrah notes and finishes very long and sweet, with dusty tannins sneaking in late.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This is the older (40+) vine wine that has a deeper set of spices and darker fruits with strong, stony perfume, licorice, dark plum, dark chocolate and pepper. The palate delivers a level of juxtaposed power and elegance seen only in the greatest wines. Tannins are saturated in dark plum and blackberry flavor. Acidity winds it tight. Dark spicy finish. Can be approached young but will peak from 2025 onwards.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Brilliant purple. Intensely perfumed, mineral-tinged scents of musky cherry pit, blueberry, candied licorice and olive; a smoky bacon nuance builds quickly in the glass. Densely packed and appealingly sweet, offering sappy, sharply focused black and blue fruit and floral pastille flavors complicated by suggestions of spicecake and floral pastilles. This sexy wine hits all the classic Syrah notes and finishes very long and sweet, with dusty tannins sneaking in late.
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.
