Probably the wine of the vintage is Clape’s 2013 Cornas. Coming from some of the prime terroirs in this incredible appellation, it’s always 100% Syrah (Cornas is always 100% Syrah) that saw no destemming and spent 22 months in mostly ancient foudre. This wine offers up classic Clape notes of beef blood, cold steel, liquid rock, pepper and saddle leather (there’s fruit in there as well) to go with a medium to full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, rich, textured 2013 that has an awesome mid-palate, ripe tannin and clean, lengthy finish. It won’t be as long lived as some of the more blockbuster-styled years, but it will dish out incredible pleasure over the coming 10-15 years.

Dark and brooding, this has a deep well of black currant, fig and bitter plum fruit in reserve, shrouded for now in smoldering charcoal, bay leaf and alder notes. Tapenade and tar details hang in the background. Offers a steel beam of a finish. Tuck this away in the back corner of your cellar. Best from 2020 through 2035.