The 2017 Cornas Domaine de Saint Pierre shows vibrant aromas of wet dark stones, flint, wild herbs, and fresh dark berries. Full-bodied and structured, it offers a sleek, richly fruited palate with fleshy, open-knit texture and a savory finish. With crisp acidity and tart notes of cranberries and citrus, it’s best enjoyed from 2022 onwards. The vineyard’s steep, south-facing slopes provide ideal conditions for this expressive Syrah.

The Wine Advocate | RP 92
Published: Dec 19, 2019
Drink: 2021-2032

The 2017 Cornas Domaine de Saint Pierre is showing more cedary oak than I recall from last year. It frames crushed stone and red currants in a wine that's full-bodied but structured and crisp, finishing on tart notes of cranberries and citrus. Give it another year or two to see if it bounces back from bottling to look more like the wine I saw from barrel last year.

With properties now in Bordeaux (Château La Lagune), Burgundy (the former Château Corton André) and Switzerland (she purchased a vineyard in the Valais in 2016), proprietor Caroline Frey is increasingly drawn in different directions, so I was fortunate to be able to sit down with her for a few hours at Michelin-starred Maison Chabran in nearby Pont de l'Isère. She brought representative barrel samples of the 2018s, plus the bottled 2017s, which we tasted through before dining. This year, Frey was excited to show me the 2017 Côtes du Rhône Parallele 45, which is now made using only organic grapes. At up to two million bottles (red, white and rosé) per year, that's no small achievement. But as always, we spent the most time on the wines produced from the firm's own vineyards, which are all farmed biodynamically. Frey explained that they cannot be certified, as the winery also processes grapes and wines from the négociant operations. The grapes are all destemmed, although she said they will experiment with whole clusters. "When we did it in 2013, for me it was not OK," she said. She has begun doing more pigeage (punching down) in the winery, versus just remontage (pumping over). "We have good results on the texture—fleshier." The glory of Jaboulet is the legendary Hermitage La Chapelle, which is finally reflecting all of the hard work put into the vineyards by the Frey family and the Jaboulet team. "We still have many things to do," said Frey. "But I think in the past 13 years we've come a long way."

JamesSuckling.com | JS 92
Published: Jul 17, 2019

There’s an array of wet dark stones, flint, wild herbs and fresh dark berries on offer here with a sleek, deep, berry edge to the richly fruited palate that has fleshy, open-knit and succulent fruit impact. There’s a handy interplay of savory character on the finish. Try from 2022.

Jaboulet.com

On the right bank of the Rhône River, the vineyard is located on the eastern slope of the Massif Central, in the commune of Cornas, near the small chapel of Saint Pierre. The steep south-facing slopes form a natural amphitheater that protects the vines from cold winds.
The ancient Cornas vineyard dates back to antiquity, with its first stone walls believed to be of Roman origin.