Guillaume Gilles Cornas Les Rieux 2021 1.5L
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The Land
Before the turn of this century, essentially nothing in Cornas was planted above 300 meters; the fruit would not ripen. Les Rieux sits at 400 to 450 meters, above the amphitheater that holds the historic core of the appellation, and it had never held vines at all. Guillaume Gilles acquired the land in 2010 and planted it immediately, largely with massale selections taken from Les Bessards on the hill of Hermitage. The soil is sandy white granite; the exposure is south, and the vines take sun across the whole day. A warmer climate is what made the site viable, and the paradox is that altitude now delivers full maturity at lower alcohol than the valley floor. Gilles farms about five hectares in total, most of it in Cornas, and he has been certified organic since 2020. Everything is worked by hand; the soils are ploughed by a mix of horse, tractor, trident plough and winch.
The Wine
All Syrah, fermented with whole bunches and native yeasts, given a shorter cuvaison than the flagship Chaillot cuvée and otherwise treated identically: eighteen months in older demi-muids and 400-liter barrels, no fining, no filtration. Sulfur goes in only after the malolactic finishes and is adjusted at bottling to somewhere around fifty milligrams per liter total. Pruning holds yields near thirty-five hectoliters per hectare. The wine rarely climbs above thirteen percent alcohol, which is the point of the site rather than an accident of it. 2021 was the Northern Rhône's hardest recent vintage: a severe frost on April eighth cost the region better than a third of its crop and hit Cornas's upper slopes directly, spring turned wet, mildew followed, and a lackluster summer pushed harvest later and slower than normal, with alcohols down roughly a full degree across the board. What came out of it in Cornas is fresh, crunchy and structured in the old style. Expect violets, red currant and cracked pepper over a mineral spine, tannins fine rather than brooding. In magnum it will move even more slowly.
The People
Guillaume Gilles was born in Lyon and has wanted this since he was eight, when he decided to follow his grandfather, the Cornas legend Marcel Juge. The door opened in 2000, when Robert Michel took him on as an apprentice; he stayed until Michel retired in 2006, did a stint with Jean-Louis Chave in Hermitage, and set out on his own in 2007, renting two hectares of Michel's vines in the lieu-dit Chaillot. He still vinifies and ages in Michel's old cellar beneath the house at 1 Grand Rue in the center of Cornas. His description of the job is that it consists of trying "not to screw it up in the cellar by interfering as little as possible." Michel, tasting the first vintage from Les Rieux, said it reminded him of the Cornas he and his neighbors made in the 1970s and 1980s.
Food Pairing
A magnum asks for a table. Roast a leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic and let the tannins go to work on the fat and the protein. Duck breast with a coarse black pepper crust plays straight into the wine's own peppery register. Braised short ribs work for the same reason lamb does, with the gelatin softening the structure further. For the beginning of the evening, a plate of saucisson sec and olives sets the salt against the fruit. Open it two hours ahead, or decant it. Fifteen hundred milliliters is the format you buy when you already know who you are drinking it with.
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The Rhône Valley is a diverse and historic wine region, divided into two distinct areas. The Northern Rhône is the birthplace of Syrah, with steep, terraced vineyards that produce some of the world's most revered wines, such as those from Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie. The Southern Rhône is much more expansive, offering a wider range of styles, but typically based around Grenache-based blends, with wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape known for their complexity and power. While the region is celebrated for its reds, it also produces incredible textured whites, and as a whole the region displays the spectrum of French wine and the incredible differences that can come from small geographic changes.
Rhone Valley
Syrah is a dark-skinned grape of French origin, specifically from the Northern Rhône Valley, where it produces some of the world's most powerful and complex wines. Known as Shiraz in Australia, Syrah is capable of displaying a wide range of aromas and flavors. Cool climate Syrahs tend to express floral notes like violets, along with savory elements like olives, while those grown in warmer climates like Australia are more likely to show black pepper and dark fruit notes such as plum. The grape's versatility allows it to adapt to various climates and soil types, but it maintains its unique characteristics no matter where it is planted.
