Today, there is no more unique figure in the Northern Rhône than Cornas’ Thiérry Allemand. Though only in his 50s, he has been mythologized in much the same way as past greats like Noël Verset, Marius Gentaz and August Clape. He created his domaine from scratch, inheriting nothing from his ancestors. And because he also didn’t have a family fortune behind him, much of his domaine was assembled by laboriously restoring abandoned parcels in great terroirs.
While deeply rooted in the past, Thiérry’s approach to winemaking is uniquely his. He began in the early 1980s by learning at the knees of two Cornas legends, Joseph Michel and Noël Verset, but has gone on to apply a quarter century of personal experience. He has arrived, finally, at a philosophy that, while squarely in the traditional camp, produces wine whose purity and expression of grape variety and place are unrivalled by anyone in Cornas.
95 Points Wine Advocate
mark Coming from the younger vines of the estate, Allemand’s 2012 Cornas les Chaillots is slightly fresher and more lean than the bigger, more concentrated Reynard, yet is still an incredible Cornas that checks in near the top of the hierarchy. Possessing an almost Clape-like iron, beef blood, tapenade and ground pepper laced bouquet, as well as a core of sweet cassis and black raspberry fruit, this rocking effort has full-bodied richness, solid mid-palate concentration and perfectly integrated acidity. It opens up beautifully with air, and while it shows the more approachable style of the vintage, it won’t start to hit maturity until around age ten; it will have 20 years or more of ultimate longevity.
95 Points Vinous
Inky ruby. Deeply pitched black and blue fruit aromas are complicated and enlivened by notes of white pepper, allspice and smoky minerals, with a suave floral nuance slowly emerging. Broad, seamless and alluringly sweet, offering palate-coating boysenberry and violet pastille flavors and suggestions of spicecake and cola. Clings with superb tenacity and focus on the floral finish, which is framed by silky, even tannins.