Young readers, or those with good longevity genes, should check out the enormous, backward, foreboding, black/purple-colored 2009 Cornas Domaine de St.-Pierre. A classic Cornas, it offers up scents of beef blood, charcuterie, blackberries, new saddle leather, pepper and smoked game, mouthsearing levels of tannin and huge extract. It reminds me of some of the old Noel Verset Cornas made in the 1970s and early 1980s. Don’t dare think about drinking it until it has reached age ten. It should age effortlessly for 25-30 years or more. One needs no further evidence of the extraordinary turn around in the quality of the Jaboulet wines than what proprietress Caroline Frey has accomplished in 2009 as well as 2010. As I indicated last year, this is one of the great qualitative turn arounds in the wine world. It is welcomed by all wine lovers given the historic legacy of the wines of Jaboulet and the importance of this famous firm in all of France. Ms. Frey, who is also responsible for the brilliant wines produced at La Lagune in Bordeaux, has reduced the amount of new oak for the red wines to about 20% and to negligible proportions for the whites. A second wine of Hermitage, La Petite Chapelle, is fashioned from 33% or more of the production that is culled out to guarantee that the great reputation of the Hermitage La Chapelle has enjoyed over the last century is maintained. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Young readers, or those with good longevity genes, should check out the enormous, backward, foreboding, black/purple-colored 2009 Cornas Domaine de St.-Pierre. A classic Cornas, it offers up scents of beef blood, charcuterie, blackberries, new saddle leather, pepper and smoked game, mouthsearing levels of tannin and huge extract. It reminds me of some of the old Noel Verset Cornas made in the 1970s and early 1980s. Don’t dare think about drinking it until it has reached age ten. It should age effortlessly for 25-30 years or more. One needs no further evidence of the extraordinary turn around in the quality of the Jaboulet wines than what proprietress Caroline Frey has accomplished in 2009 as well as 2010. As I indicated last year, this is one of the great qualitative turn arounds in the wine world. It is welcomed by all wine lovers given the historic legacy of the wines of Jaboulet and the importance of this famous firm in all of France. Ms. Frey, who is also responsible for the brilliant wines produced at La Lagune in Bordeaux, has reduced the amount of new oak for the red wines to about 20% and to negligible proportions for the whites. A second wine of Hermitage, La Petite Chapelle, is fashioned from 33% or more of the production that is culled out to guarantee that the great reputation of the Hermitage La Chapelle has enjoyed over the last century is maintained. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700