Read what La Revue du Vin de France
says about Pierre Gaillard:
"Without a misstep, Pierre Gaillard
pursues a path of quality. He is dynamic
and intelligent, for several years now his
wines have been exciting and fascinating,
winning and seductive in their youth, lacking
nothing in complexity and potential. These
wines are the surest values in the Rhone
Valley."
I've always loved the robust and rounded red
wine from Cornas. And, when you match Pierre
Gaillard's winemaking prowess and
intelligence with the Cornas terroir,
the result is a beautiful glassful of red
wine.
"Fruit and lots of it is the hallmark of
the 2006 vintage in the Northern Rhone," John
Livingstone-Learmonth writes in
Decanter magazine.
Cornas is like a little stocking foot on the
bottom of the much larger wine commune, St
Joseph. Cornas produces only red wines, made
exclusively from the Syrah grape. It is a
very small appellation with only about 90
hectares planted.
Cornas is a very big wine. Big, powerful, loaded with ripe black fruit. This results from
the fact that Cornas sits in a big dish-like
geologic amphitheatre that protects it from
the cooling and brutal Mistral. The hot,
nearly-baking Syrah grapes produce juice that
is often described as: virile, robust,
earthy, black, tannic, brooding, and massive
with notes of raspberries, truffles, and
cassis.
"Cornas has character, life, and energy."
-La Revue du Vin de France
I think, as the standards of winemaking
improve and technology is able to extract
more and more flavor from a grape, our
yearning for big, expressive and rich wines
has increased. This does not necessarily mean
a wine that is ponderously alcoholic or
over-oaked (Pierre Gaillard would throw
himself in the Rhone River before that
happened); it means more concentration and
structure.
Pierre Gaillard only has one hectare to work
with in Cornas. His yields are ruinously low
at 35 hectoliters per hectare. His vines are
a noble and aged 70 years. Pierre exercises
severe sorting and harvests by hand. The
wines rest 18 months in barrels, 50% of which
are new.
Put a case of this in your cellar. You will
love its rich intensity. Cynthia
Hurley
