From: Rhône, France
Varietal: Syrah
Taste & Critical Acclaim: "A serious, well-crafted and lively Cotes-du-Rhone that shows notes of wild berries, dried herbs and baking spices. Medium-bodied with fine tannins. Velvety texture on the palate with bright acidity. So crunchy, vivid and transparent, with a flavorful and spicy finish that has excellent length. Drink or hold." –James Suckling, 93 points (5/2024)
"The 2022 Côtes Du Rhône is clearly better, with a more medium to full-bodied, round, textured style. It's a classy, old-school effort (the abv is 11.5%) that has some gamey blue fruits and mulberry nuances, plenty of peppery, violet notes, ripe tannins, and a great finish. I was thrilled to be able to retaste the 2020s during my visit with Pierre-Marie Clape, and it’s safe to say I underrated these last year. They’ve have morphed into heavenly wines that are unquestionably in the same league as the estate 2010s, 2018s, and 2019s. The 2021s here have pure, classic, old school-like profiles with more moderate concentration and depth, but good balance as well as length. Harkening back to wines from the 1980s, they’re already approachable yet should have 10-15 years of interesting drinking." –Jeb Dunnuck, 91 points (3/2024)
"More classically Cornas in style compared to the domaine’s Vin des Amis cuvée this year, it's quite animal in style. Full-bodied, with marked acidity and tight tannins. Explosively flavoursome but not as long on the finish as some years. (MW)" –Decanter, 90 points (9/2023)
"Ripe black cherry, blackberry and cured meat aromas are all nicely layered in the 2022 Côtes-du-Rhône. This fruit-laden red hits the palate with solid concentration and intensity. Balanced by bright acidity and medium-bodied at most, it concludes with good drive on the refreshing finale.( NG)" –Vinous (3/2024)
Pairing: Take inspiration from the region and pair this with lamb dishes that incorporate Mediterranean herbs. Some of our favorite lamb dishes include lamb chops au poivre, lamb chops with dates, feta and tahini (check it out below), lamb and scallions, stir-fried lamb with eggplant, simple lamb curry (go light on the spice, please), grilled lamb chops, and lamb burgers! Are you crunched for time? Go the gyro route and pick up some awesome gyros, shawarma, or grilled eggplant from your favorite take-out joint.
Lamb Chops With Dates, Feta and Tahini
Recipe from Diana Henry
Adapted by Melissa Clark
About Domaine Clape. Many thanks to our friends at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants for the following.
In the world of wine, there are many good winegrowers. However, there are only a very select few who are truly great, and Auguste Clape will go down in history as one of the greats. A proud and uncompromising pioneer of fine winemaking in the northern Rhône, his Syrahs from the cru of Cornas have earned their place among the most celebrated wines of France.
The Clapes have been vignerons for many generations, but the infamous grower strikes of 1906 and 1907 forced Auguste’s grandfather out of the Languedoc and into the northern Rhône to start anew from practically nothing. The Clapes rebuilt their fortunes, terrace by terrace, along the steep, western slopes of the Rhône River. For many years, the majority of growers in Cornas sold their fruit to négociants. Auguste was the first to bottle his own wine, which eventually paved the way for such contemporary superstars as Thierry Allemand.
Without pretense or fanfare, Auguste, the former mayor of Cornas, was a stately picture of grace and magnanimity—a no-nonsense wise man who never rested on his laurels and sought to better himself and his wines each year until his passing in 2018 at the age of 93. Today, his son, Pierre-Marie, and grandson, Olivier, carry on his legacy with honor and integrity.
Though the Clapes farm only eight hectares, the challenge presented by the rough, tightly stacked terrace vineyards of Cornas is largely enough to handle by anybody’s standards. The dicey precipices make using any machinery in the vineyards impossible. All work must be done by hand. There are no official rules to their viticultural methodology—they work the old-fashioned way, by instinct, feeling, and common sense.
About this wine.
• Made from two parcels: one in Syrah planted within Saint-Péray AOC, which is classified as Côtes du Rhône; the second is at the bottom of a slope just beneath the boundary of Cornas AOC, level with the village of Cornas
• In some years, a small amount (around 2%) of press wine from young-vine Cornas is added
• Fermented and aged in cement tanks with part of the wine passing briefly in foudres
