Cornas

/kohr-NAHS/
[French]

A wine-growing AOC in the northern Rhône wine region of France south of Lyon. The vineyards are just North of Vienne, in a fairly small area of steep slopes facing east south east, south of Tain l'Hermitage, where Valrhona chocolate is based. It is considered by many professionals along with Cote Rotie and Hermitage, other AOCs from the Northern Rhone, as the best appellation for growing syrah in the world. Most wines produced are elegant, powerful and tannic reds, made from the Syrah grape, are long-lived and can age over forty years. Cornas used to produce only extremely hearty red wines, but under the impulse of winemaker Jean-Luc Colombo,a new fruit forward style has emerged revealing an elegant yet powerful and "black" wine. Rich, inky, and dense, this is a serious red wine. Long in the shadow of the more famous neighboring appellations Cote Rotie and Hermitage, other AOCs from the northern Rhone, Cornas produces wine at a fraction of its neighbors' prices. The wines there are reds made exclusively from Syrah grapes, with no addition of white grapes allowed unlike other northern Rhône red wines.

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