Thierry Allemand Cornas "Chaillots" 2018
(Cornas, Northern Rhône, France) - [VM 96] [DM 95] [JD 94]

About the Winery:
Today, there is no more unique figure in the Northern Rhône than Cornas’ Thiérry Allemand. Though not yet in his 50s, he has been mythologized in much the same way as past greats like Noël Verset, Marius Gentaz and August Clape. He created his domaine from scratch, inheriting nothing from his ancestors. And because he also didn’t have a family fortune behind him, much of his domaine was assembled by laboriously restoring abandoned parcels in great terroirs.

Finally, while deeply rooted in the past, Thiérry’s approach to winemaking is uniquely his. He began in the early 1980s by learning at the knees of two Cornas legends, Joseph Michel and Noël Verset, but has gone on to apply a quarter century of personal experience. He has arrived, finally, at a philosophy that, while squarely in the traditional camp, produces wine whose purity and expression of grape variety and place are unrivalled by anyone in Cornas.

About this Wine:
Cornas Chaillot is based on his vines in Chaillot, but it also includes fruit from the domaine’s younger vines, including Reynard.

Techinical Information

Varietal: 100% Syrah
Vine Age: 5 - 40 yrs
Soil Type: Limestone, Granite
Vineyard Area: 2.02 ha

Viticulture & Vinification:
• Farms organically, working steep, terraced vineyards all by hand (no tractor!)
• Dense plantings naturally reduce yields (< 30 hectoliters per hectare)
• All wines are fermented in stainless steel and open-top wooden vats
• Stems left on cluster during fermentation
• Punch-downs by foot
• All wines are vinified separately
• Wines aged in foudres and barriques for 24 months before final blending and bottling
• Finished wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered
• Very low doses of sulfur, sometimes none at all

96 Points - Vinous Media:
"Brilliant ruby. Intense blackberry and cherry aromas are complicated by suggestions of exotic spices, olive, cracked pepper and pungent flowers. Youthfully chewy, appealingly sweet black and blue fruit flavors deepen and turn spicier with air; a smoky mineral element adds back-end lift and cut. Rounded tannins add subtle grip to an impressively long, floral- and spice-driven finish that leaves salty olive and cola notes behind. All whole clusters." - Josh Raynolds (Dec 2022)

95 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"Tasting the finished blend from tank just before bottling, this is rounded, perfumed and measured; a rich, fresh and sunny style of vintage, with a salty finish." - Matt Walls (Oct 2020)

94 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"Looking first at the 2018 Cornas Chaillot, this beauty offers up a supple, medium to full-bodied, impeccably balanced style as well as lively red and black fruits supported by notes of leather, pepper, and violets. This is the younger vine cuvée of the estate and comes from vines averaging upwards of 40 years in age. Not destemmed, it’s vinified in a mix of tank and open top wooden vats and is aged in older barrels. It’s a beautiful, elegant, seamless Cornas that shows the hallmark elegance of this estate." (Feb 2022)