Twenty years ago, Cornas was a meaty, rustic wine whose typically coarse tannins routinely required a good decade of bottle aging. The wines were denser and chunkier than its Rhone neighbors Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph and rougher in their youth. They were also cheap. Today, Cornas is just as dense and meaty but a lot more expensive, and generally a bit cleaner than previously, with many wines offering earlier accessibility. Aromas and flavors typically include dark fruits, smoked meat, leather, violet, licorice, and black olive.