2014 Jean Luc Colombo Cornas Les Ruchets 750 ml

The King and His Single-Vineyard Cru Cornas

First to market! Jean-Luc Colombo, France’s “King of Cornas” and one of the Northern Rhône’s most influential figures, delivered a fantastic single-vineyard “Les Ruchets” in 2014. Named a “revolutionary” by Robert Parker, his expert cultivation of Syrah has made him an in-demand consultant for dozens of Rhône Valley estates including Domaine de la Janasse and Château Fortia. His hand has rarely been surer than it was in the crafting of this classic 2014 Jean-Luc Colombo Les Ruchets, produced from the estate’s oldest Syrah vines, many up to 90 years in age. Parker’s Wine Advocate praised the Les Ruchets as “the most concentrated and structured of the line-up.” Pinning on 94 points, Wine Spectator called it “fleshy and layered with crushed blueberry, açai berry and plum flavors,” noting that its release price in the U.S. would be $105. Not today. We have the U.S. first-to-market EXCLUSIVE, and are offering 100 cases at $59.99 per bottle on 6 or more—43% off the SRP—with shipping included on just 3.

It would be impossible to overestimate the influence Jean-Luc Colombo has had on Cornas and the Northern Rhône since his first vintage 30 years ago. Brusque but brilliant, he started as a winemaker with a few rows of vines in 1987 and even fewer qualms about bucking tradition. Soon he was raising local hackles with his modern and controversial winemaking techniques: he destemmed the fruit and aged his wines in new oak barriques, pioneering a new style of Northern Rhône Syrah that stood in stark contrast to the traditional, age-demanding wines of appellation standard-bearer, Auguste Clape.

Colombo's irreverence helped raise the profile of Cornas even as he won his share of detractors, but the young winemaker eventually earned wide respect for the acclaim he brought to the previously overlooked appellation. Ultimately, he was awarded a French Legion of Honor for his efforts in the region.

Colombo is now beginning to pass the torch to his daughter Laure, and together they are producing finer wines than ever before. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate described the 2014s as “offering clean, detailed and incredibly drinkable profiles,” singling out the Les Ruchets for its “notes of ripe dark fruits, lavender, hints of minerality and damp earth, as well as medium to full-bodied richness, a terrific mid-palate and ripe, sweet tannin.”

Les Ruchets—or “the Beehives,” named for the bees that still buzz through the air around this steep parcel, sitting at a 38-degree slope—was the first vineyard that Colombo purchased. Today the 90-year-old vines offer inky concentration, perched on a granitic plot overlooking the village of Cornas. Thanks to the eastern orientation, grapes ripen in the warm morning sun, absorbing the aromatics of the nearby brush and juniper bushes. Fruit is hand-harvested, aging 22 months in a mix of new and old French oak barrels. This is quite literally Cornas in a bottle—a quintessential Rhône wine.