Clape Cornas Renaissance is crafted from the Clape estate's younger vines, offering a more approachable and vibrant expression of the appellation. These vines are, nonetheless, over 30 year old, primarily in the Les Sabarotte and Geynale lieux-dits providing heady full bodied Syrah with aromas and flavours of boysenberry, star anise and cola - silky polished tannins and keen acidity. Traditional winemaking approaches, including whole-cluster fermentation, and maturation in old oak foudres enhances the wine's aromatic intensity and structure of the wine offering a fresh, yet profound, interpretation of the esteemed Cornas terroir.

"Bottled just one month before my tasting, Clape’s 2023 Cornas opens with a deep, introverted bouquet of cassis, mulberries and licorice mingled with carnal notes. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and structured, it’s built around a firm, somewhat austere palate with a good chassis of youthful tannins that lead to a spicy, lead pencil-inflected finish. Despite its brooding character, it should benefit from time in the cellar."

Wine Advocate 95/100
Review Date: 05/2026

Excellent value red from Domaine De La Charbonniere, with Grenache leading the way in this full bodied beauty, which is 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah.

The Domaine de la Charbonniere is owned by Eugene Maret, who owns 19 hectares in the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation, nearly six hectares in Vacqueryas and two hectares in the Cotes du Rhone appellation.

This is an outstanding Cotes du Rhone red with body to burn and flavours of approachable, soft and smooth spicy red fruit notes supported by a tannin structure of impressive velvet smooth framework and complex savoury, clean notes on the finish.

This Grenache dominant blend comes from certified organic vineyards in the southern Rhone. This wine offers excellent ripe red fruit notes and great structure. The palate is spiced, complex and rich. Charbonniere Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2016 is fresh enough for drinking young, yet promises to age gracefully.

Intent on making the very best Côtes du Rhône Rosé we can, we search for varieties naturally suited to rosé; Grenache Noir for body, Cinsault for freshness and a touch of spice from a drop of Syrah. This wine is HVE3 sustainable certified.

Production

Our hunt for specific plots that would deliver the best grapes with the right balance and flavour profile led us to the south of the Côtes du Rhône where we found ripeness and aroma to balance the freshness found in plots from northern villages of the Southern Rhône valley. As with previous vintages, Les Cerisiers is again made in the same way as the best rosés of Provence, uses the ‘rosé de presse’ method as soon as the grapes are picked. This very gentle pressing extracts as much aroma and flavour as possible with the least amount of tannins. The wine is both pressed and vinified at cool temperatures (of no more than 16Intent ) in stainless steel vats to preserve these delicate aroma, flavours and colour. The wine is grown and vinified sustainably, achieving HVE3 certification

Tasting notes

An elegant, truly gastronomic rosé from our home in the Rhône. A classic salmon pink rosé with delicate perfumed aromas of rosehip syrup, wild berry blossoms and cherries on the nose. Full flavoured, ripe and beautifully balanced with acidity, there’s elegant, textured, berry fruit on the palate with a twist of raspberry freshness to lift the finish. Deliciously balanced and moreish.

Food match

As with rosé from neighbouring Provence, Les Cerisiers should not be seen only as a delicious apéritif but a match for light dishes - a simple charcuterie plate or grilled salmon and prawns. It also pairs well with more complex dishes; Bouillabaisse, the classic southern French fish stew, or even Red Thai Chicken Curry, a spicy bean tagine or a mushroom and aubergine lasagne.

One of the world's top 10 best known wine brands, Guigal is the producer of this incredibly smooth, spicy, soft and delicious full bodied red Cotes du Rhone. At least 4 million bottles of this wine are made in a good year and as it is aged for three years  minimum in Guigal’s wine cellars, there are about 12 million bottles of Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rouge in Guigal's cellars at any one time, either fermenting or maturing.

All of the grapes are grown and bought in from 850 growers in the Rhone Valley and while this is a vast amount of external input, all of the wine production from fermentation to ageing, bottling and marketing is done by the Guigal family. 

This blend is approximately 55% Syrah with smaller proportions of Grenache and Mourvedre to add roundness to the wine, which is softened out by the three year ageing process in Ampuis, in the Northern Rhone, which is the Guigal family's winemaking headquarters.