Alain Voge Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes 2017 | 750 ml.

WE96 Wine Enthusiast 7/1/2020

"Old vines averaging 60 years and long oak maturation (20% in new oak) lend spicy, sweet notes of cinnamon toast and clove to deeply concentrated black plum and blackberry flavors in this wine. It’s a creamy Syrah, balanced by tart cassis acidity and ripe but firm, lingering tannins. Delicious already, the wine should show even better from 2022 and improve through 2037." (96 pts.)

SP94 Wine Spectator May 31, 2020

"Ripe and compact, with a coiled-up core of blackberry and bitter cherry fruit that should unwind fully with time. Racy iron, savory and plum pit notes on the finish add cut and length. Lovely purity. Best from 2022 through 2038. 1,100 cases made, 110 cases imported." (94 pts.)

VN95 Vinous Apr 2020

"Inky violet color. Intensely perfumed aromas of ripe black/blue fruits, exotic spices, potpourri and olive are sharpened by a smoky mineral flourish. Juicy and expansive in the mouth, offering alluringly sweet blueberry and cherry preserve flavors along with hints of licorice and candied flowers. The floral and spice qualities repeat emphatically on an impressively long, energetic finish that features well-knit tannins and a resonating mineral note." (95 pts.)

RP93+ Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate 19th Dec 2019

"Bottled in June 2019, the 2017 Cornas Vieilles Vignes still seemed shut down when I tasted it, marked by cedary oak and mixed berry flavors. It’s full-bodied and silky-textured, framed by surprisingly tart acids on the long, crisp finish. Worth noting is that this includes the fruit that normally goes into the les Vieilles Fontaines, as that wine was not bottled in 2017. Tasted twice (once blind), with consistent notes." (93+ pts.)

JD97 Jeb Dunnuck December 12, 2019

"The 2017 Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes is cut from the same mold yet has a touch more tannins as well as mid-palate density. Notes of crème de cassis, blueberries, camphor, toasted spice, and smoked game all soar from the glass, and it’s full-bodied, power-packed, yet elegant and seamless on the palate. Its wealth of fruit largely conceals plenty of underlying structure, and while it’s already fun to taste, give bottles 4–5 years and enjoy over the following 10–15 years or more. The old vine cuvée comes from the Combe, Patou, La Côte, Les Mazards, and Chaillot lieu-dits, from 60+-year-old vines, was 80% destemmed and spent 20 months in 15–20% new French oak. (Jeb Dunnuck)" (97 pts.)