La Grande Colline Cornas

Beautifully floral nose that is a bit herbal with just a tinge of dark fruit. The palate has a similarly cool, dark fruit that is juicy, the acidity is quite fine, and the texture is already quite elegant with just a hint of grip from the tannins. You can tell this is a natural wine; has that silky semi-carbonic texture, but you also get hints of that smoky, meaty, peppery flavor you get from Cornas with a bit of bitter …

Poulet Frites (The Morris, San Francisco CA) : I’ve never seen one of these in the wild, so it needed to be ordered off the list! This needed a few minutes to wake up and really show itself. This is one of the more elegant and refined Cornas’ I’ve had. There is a lovely level of refinement to the savory tones of Crushed rocks, herbs, savory notes, tobacco, funky tones, dark red cherries, raspberries, licorice, and leather. The Medium bodied …

Poured into a decanter and consumed over 2 hours. Ready to go from the first sip, with pronounced aromas of rose, red and black cherry, raspberry, a hint of pickle, smoked olive, bread, and earth. Medium acidity, medium+ slightly grippy tannins, and medium finish accented by flavors of pickle and bread. Lively on the nose, revealing its nattiness only on the finish. We were worried that it would not last long but it was still very much alive at the …

Very good showing! Pretty nose that is much more red fruited than the Allemand Reynard next to it. Floral, with a little funkiness and barnyard notes that (mostly) blew off with some air, a bit of black pepper, and a lingering strawberry note. The palate had good acidity with tart fruit, cherries, and a slightly herbal quality. Nice finish. Lovely wine that showed beautifully. It started out a bit "natty" but evolved nicely in the glass and kept well the …

Tastes like a natty garage band red. There is nothing particularly noteworthy or interesting here. There is some syrah typicity but it’s more “natural” than “syrah”. It certainly does have some Brett and rubs its shoulders with mousiness without getting all the way in. I’m happy to have tried it but it’s an emperor without garments situation imo.

Bright, with lots of energy. Drank side by side with 17’ Lafon Montrachet and I was more excited about this wine. So good!

Keith's note nails it (duh), but I'd go further and say that this goes over way over the line and into the abyss. I can grok "natural wine," but this is so attenuated, shrill, and lacking in any semblance of fruit that there is little to recommend it. That and the gout-de-souris finish all but do it in. It's a shame because Ooka seems so earnest (if you haven't seen "Before It Begins" you really should), but the wine is …

Vinegary smoky tapenade. Light but not much length on the palate.

Tastes like a cross between Eric Texier Cote-Rotie and Verset Cornas if it were made by Dard & Ribo, which sounds kind of awesome on paper but to be honest I am on the fence trying to figure out if this is maybe just too far into the red zone on the tach for its own good. The non-fruit elements are so overwhelming - bacon, cured aged meat, sweaty horses that probably indicate a non-zero amount of brett, chicken stock, …

Dense, black olive red color, lots of VA... as always with these wines there is something enticing without being great.

Was really excited about trying this as it isn't the easiest to find and love the story of Ooka. This wine upon opening was extremely bretty. After it got air it developed 'goût de souris'. No one enjoyed this wine and we actually poured the remainder out. There is potentially bottle variation, though I know that a friend had a very similar experience with a bottle from this last release of 2012 that just made it over to the US. …

Pours cloudy garnet. blackberries, dusty earth, black olives, pepper on the nose. A bit green on the palate with None of the ferocity expected from a young cornas. Easy to like and drink.

Grande Colline at Red and White (Chicago, IL) : Nice amount of black pepper on the nose and palate here, as you'd expect from the appellation. A little bit more acidic than I'd expect for the vintage, there's this sensation of underripeness here. Overall, this is a little bit thinner and less potent than I expected, but it's also got a nice raciness to it. The dead yeast does pop out on the finish, and there's definitely a slight natty …