Auguste Bessac
Domaine Auguste Clape
Cornas Syrah 2005
Texas Keeper
Auguste Cerise Small Batch Cider 2024
Pretty label. Beautiful color. Euro smells. Smells of rosehip and gojiberry. Complex. High ABV. Deceptively strong cider. Pretty dry. Flavors are tart, but full. Tannins. Cukes and bit of cherry surprise. This is fancy cider for the connoisseur. — a year ago
Domaine Auguste Clape
Côtes du Rhône Red Rhone Blend 2017
Domaine Clape’s Côtes du Rhône is made from two tiny parcels totaling maybe three acres. One parcel is in Saint-Péray and the second parcel lies just outside of Cornas.
Poured into a decanter about an hour prior to service. The 2017 Côtes du Rhônes pours, a deep, ruby/purple color with a magenta rim and a near opaque core; medium+ viscosity with significant staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is developing with beautiful notes of ripe and tart fruit: brambles, fig, lavender, bacon fat, black pepper, dried green herbs, and some warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is medium+. There is unmissable pedigree here. Certainly not your ordinary Côtes du Rhône. This is in a very lovely spot. Drink now through 2032. — 25 days ago
Domaine de Triennes
Saint Auguste Red Blend 2019
65% Syrah; 35% Cabernet Sauvignon — 4 months ago
Château Auguste
Red Bordeaux Blend 2017
Medium plus tannins, nice berry fruit on aroma and flavors with some chalkiness on the aftertaste. — 9 months ago
Domaine Auguste Clape
Renaissance Cornas Syrah 2020
Domaine Auguste Clape
Le Vin des Amis Syrah 2020
This baby has teeth, about as good as a Cote du Rhone I have ever had and me thinks can be! Between this and Jamet hard to beat CdR! Textbook N Rhone Syrah — a month ago
Domaine Des Vignes du Maynes (Julien Guillot)
Cuvée 910 Clos des Vignes du Maynes Mâcon-Cruzille Pinot Noir 2021
Wildcard. Prob my fav cuvée from Julien. Tasted aged even tho it’s a 21. Flowery quality to it, like roses, potpourri.
[2019 Vintage:] “A captivating, translucent ruby red hue. Even on the nose alone, there is already a suggestion of ripeness, yet it is utterly enveloped by fragrance: white flowers, grapefruit, cherry, even stony minerals. Really classy and effusive, replete with sapid pinot-esque flavours of enviable concentration. The vintage is quite magical here: all pure, palate-staining but also inexplicably airy in the mouth. The mouthfeel is silky, culminating in a persistent, gentle and thoroughly sweet-fruited long finish held together by an invisible frame. Like the ethereal cuvée Auguste, trails of crushed flower petals replicate and repeat on the lingering finish.” AC
“Guillot brings a unique perspective to gamay—not quite Burgundy, not yet Beaujolais—not only in his Mâcon Rouge and Mâcon-Cruzille, but the mysterious, radiant, field-blended Cuvée 910.” Jon Bonné — 2 years ago
Shay A
My contribution to a large Rhône dinner. Standouts were ‘07 Chapoutier Le Meal Blanc, ‘89 and ‘90 Jaboulet La Chappelle, ‘11 Guigal La Mouline.
An over-generalization, but what I love about Cornas is the rusticity and sometimes feral nature of the wines (which I don’t find in Hermitage or CR) and this ‘05 is in that vein. I followed this from pop (after all, we are at the almost 20yr mark) and over the course of three hours.
Interplay of red and black berry fruits, black pepper, slightly herbal (maybe closer to potpurri floral) aromatically. Bright and nimble on the palate, nothing about this is ripe or soft. Energetic acidity all the way through surrounded by notes of iron (sanguine-like) and rocky minerality. Crunchy red and black fruits (whole-cluster?), hint of gaminess but not in the meaty-style I semi-expected. Clean and pure style of Syrah. Big structure at the finish…hard to imagine drinking this 10+yrs ago. Acidity and tannin will carry this a long time, but I think this is peak window for getting depth of fruit and complexity. — 8 days ago