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Domaine Jérôme Despesse Cornas 2023
From Plant Wines: Jérôme Despesse is a true micro-producer in Cornas, farming just 0.6 hectares at the southern end of the appellation. He took over his family’s prime old-vine Syrah parcel on Les Côtes, originally planted in the 1940's, a historic hillside where Auguste Clape also farms neighboring vines. This is serious Cornas terroir, from one of the most respected sectors of the appellation.
The vineyard is worked without pesticides or herbicides, and in the cellar Despesse follows a very traditional, hands-off approach. The wine is made with 100% whole-bunch fermentation, gentle cap punching, and aged for 18 months in neutral oak (33% one-year-old barrels and 67% three- to four-year-old barrels). The wine is unfiltered, preserving maximum texture and character.
Total production is tiny - just 125 to 150 cases per year.
Stylistically, compared to something like Franck Balthazar, Despesse’s Cornas leans a bit more sauvage and brooding: darker, inkier, with classic Cornas notes of black olive, smoked meat, bacon fat, cracked pepper, and savory spice, layered over dense black fruit. It’s powerful but not overdone, with real old-vine depth and structure, and should age beautifully for a decade or more.
