Clape Cornas was the subject of my first wine article to get published. I wanted to call it ‘A dose of the Clape’ but the journal editor re-named it ‘Clape Clape – David Strange applauds a fine wine maker’. Clearly a lot less funny. I’ve had some lovely bottles of Clape over the years, they are always very typical (and good) examples of Cornas.
Cornas 1998, Auguste Clape
The nose is very Cornas; dark, ripe fruit, pepper, grilled meat and a certain rusticity. Even though this has a big nose it is not over-ripe, the fruit is fresh and lively and the alcohol is not excessive. There is a reasonable degree of earthy complexity there, too. It smells relatively youthful. The palate has big Cornas tannins but there is a lot of fruit there too; it is not unbalanced. The tannins have that touch of rusticity that one would expect from Cornas. Fruit persists on the finish, along with a good earthy flavour. The palate has complexity, but it is definitely a big, tannic wine rather than being svelte and refined. It is still pretty youthful and I think it will develop more over the next five or so years. This is a really good, typical Cornas, but I think I preferred the [link2post id=”1336″]Domaine de Rochepertuis 1998 I had back in November[/link2post], that was a more charming, silky wine.