Domaine Yves Cuilleron Cornas 'Le Village' Syrah 2024

Domaine Yves Cuilleron Cornas 'Le Village' Syrah is a dense, granite-grown red from one of the smallest appellations in the northern Rhône.

Three localities inside the village — Les Côtes, Reynard and Cayret — feed the blend, all of them steep terraces on decomposed granite. Bunches are sorted and partly destemmed, fermented in open vats for roughly three weeks with punching down and pumping over, then finished through malolactic in barrel.

Ripe black fruit, spice and a whiff of forest floor open onto a round, generous palate closing with long, spicy tannins. Decant it, pour at 16-18°C, and match with slow-cooked beef, venison or a mushroom ragout.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.

Type: Red Wine
Style: Full-bodied, dry
Grape Varietal: Syrah 100%
Tastes Like: Northern Rhône Syrah at its most powerful, in the same family as Hermitage
Alcohol Percentage: 13%
Size: 750mL
Appellation: Cornas AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée: France's protected appellation system; Cornas is a small appellation on the west bank of the Rhône opposite Valence, for red wine from Syrah alone)
Region: Cornas, northern Rhône, France
Terroir: Three lieux-dits, Les Côtes, Reynard and Cayret, on granite; the vines on Les Côtes were planted in 1911
Aging: 18 months in barriques
Serving Temperature: 16-18°C

Domaine Yves Cuilleron is a family estate at Chavanay, in the northern Rhône valley between Condrieu and Saint-Joseph. Yves's grandfather Claude Cuilleron founded it in 1920 and began bottling the wines in 1947; Yves's uncle Antoine took over in 1960, and Yves took charge in 1987 with just 3.5 hectares in Condrieu and Saint-Joseph. He made his first Côte-Rôtie in 1988, bought vines in Saint-Péray and Cornas in 2006 and in Crozes-Hermitage from 2012, and the domaine now makes wine across six of the northern Rhône's appellations. In 1996 Yves also co-founded Les Vins de Vienne with two neighbouring growers, Pierre Gaillard and François Villard.

Le Village blends Syrah from three lieux-dits in Cornas: Les Côtes, Reynard and Cayret. Les Côtes, on granite and crumbling saprolite at the south of the commune, has vines planted in 1911. The grapes are fermented with native yeasts in open vats and the wine is aged for 18 months in barriques. Cornas is known as one of the most powerful of the northern Rhône's Syrahs, a red for rich winter dishes.

Pork: Stuffed pork with cabbage and chestnuts
Game: Wild boar braised in red wine
Beef: Beef short ribs with mushrooms
Lamb: Slow-roast lamb shoulder with garlic

Picodon: Goat's cheese from the Ardèche hills behind Cornas
Saint-Félicien: Soft, creamy cow's milk cheese from the Ardèche
Cantal Vieux: Long-aged Cantal with the firmness for a big Syrah
Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage: Gentle blue from across the Rhône

Maôche Ardéchoise (Ardèche Stuffed Pork with Cabbage)

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 1 pork stomach, cleaned (order from your butcher), or 300g caul fat
• 1 small savoy cabbage
• 600g pork shoulder, finely chopped or coarsely minced
• 150g smoked bacon, chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped, and 2 garlic cloves
• 100g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
• 8 pitted prunes, chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1L chicken stock
• Salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Blanch the cabbage leaves in boiling salted water for 3 minutes, drain, cool and chop finely, discarding the thick ribs.
2. Mix the cabbage with the pork, bacon, onions, garlic, chestnuts, prunes, egg and parsley. Season well with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
3. Fill the stomach with the stuffing and sew up the opening with kitchen string, or wrap the stuffing in caul fat as a large loaf and place in a deep ovenproof dish.
4. Heat the oven to 160°C. Place in a casserole with the stock, cover and cook for 3 hours, basting now and then; uncover for the last 30 minutes to colour.
5. Rest for 15 minutes, then cut into thick slices and serve with boiled potatoes and a spoonful of the cooking juices.

The maôche is a peasant dish from the mountains of the Ardèche, the département that runs along the west bank of the Rhône, Cornas included: a pig's stomach stuffed with pork and cabbage, often with chestnuts or prunes, cooked slowly for hours. A powerful Cornas has the structure to match the rich pork and the depth for the sweetness of chestnut and prune.