2020 Cornas, Domaine de Lorient

The 2020 Cornas boasts a lifted, floral bouquet – accentuated by a judicious 50% whole-bunch fermentation – with black cherry fruit, flecks of black pepper and subtle savoury notes of tapenade and grilled meat. It hails from a single-hectare plot (gifted to Laure by her father, totemic Rhône winemaker Jean-Luc Colombo) of forty-year-old vines on a south-east-facing slope, just above the renowned lieu-dit Les Chaillots. A cool microclimate and decomposed granite soil (known as gore) account for the wine’s bright acidity and the mineral resonance beloved of devotees of the Northern Rhône. It was raised for 14 months in neutral 228 and 400L barrels prior to a brief spell in concrete, contributing roundness and depth to the mid-palate. It has ample concentration and acidity to age well, but this is one Cornas that won’t take an age to come round, and will deliver a huge amount of pleasure ‘sur le fruit’ from autumn 2022.