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Cornalin

Cornalin “Antica” from Cornulus, Saviése

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A winery that remains apart, focused clearly on producing elegant great wines while paying little attention to trends.

Many of these age very well, including this one. Antica is the name of one of their growing areas, mainly cultivated with biodynamic methods since 2000. The Antica Cornalin is an inter-parcel blend, made from grapes taken from three “clos” or vine parcels.

They produce another Cornalin and if you visit the winery, do compare the two.

This one is simply beautiful, a fine example of what the grape whose correct name is Rouge du pays, popularly known as Cornalin, can give. I tasted the 2009 at Arvinis and it is perfect right now, but I would happily keep it for a few years: it should age very well.

  • Domaine Cornulus
  • Route de Savièse, CH-1965 Savièse
    Above Sion, canton Valais
  • winery
  • Deep, rich cherry red highlights on dark background
  • Splendidly ripe dark fruits, from blueberry to black currant and blackberry, almost jam-like
  • Mouth-filling and elegant, very smooth tannins, good structure. The promise of dark fruits jam comes to life here: fruit is very present.
  • 2009
  • ✭✭✭ a special wine, out of the ordinary

Cornalin aka Rouge du Pays, pre-Phylloxera

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Rouge du Pays (Cornalin) from Flanthey, 80-100 year old vines, pre-Phylloxera

This is simply the most beautiful Cornalin I have ever had and ever expect to taste, a wine for the others to aim to replicate. There was no label on the bottle. We had only a small amount in our glasses, with none left for refills at the end.

It seems a little unfair to add a tasting note, since only make 50 bottles a year are made of this “Rouge du Pays”. Today we know the grape as Cornalin, a difficult grape that when it is in good hands gives a wine that  from vines that are 80 to 100 years old. Stéfano Délitroz is the winemaker who has the know-how to listen to these grapes and let them do their work, but the wine isn’t sold commercially, so I’ll have to recommend a couple other Cornalins soon in this space.

We were lucky to have this one bottle for a special tasting of nine wines from grapevines that were never touched by Phylloxera, the disease that basically wiped out Europe’s old grapevines and, in the process, pre-clone versions of grapes. The tasting session was organized by José Vouillamoz, grape DNA specialist and one of the authors of the magnificent “Wine Grapes” reference work.

The group of a dozen of us agreed that if this tiny vineyard can be helped to reproduce the world will be a better place for it.

Note: I corrected the name of the grape variety to Rouge du Pays; Petit Rouge, which I put earlier, is a grape from the nearby Aosta Valley in Italy – a parent of this grape.

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  • Flanthey, Valais
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  • Deep rich cherry red with purple shadows
  • Grandmother's best: black cherries and raspberries gently stewed down to their essence, very rich fruits
  • Rich and velvety from the first touch, extraordinary fruit with great depth, silky tannins and a very pleasing slightly sour finish. Surprisingly complex given the fruit and that it is only three years old.
  • 2011
  • ✭✭✭ a special wine, out of the ordinary