Auguste Clape

Auguste Clape's grandfather arrived in the northern Rhône fleeing the Languedoc vineyard strikes of 1906. Auguste, born in 1925, built on that legacy to become the defining figure of Cornas: in 1957 he was the first vigneron in the appellation to estate-bottle and sell his Syrah under his own name, breaking entirely from the négociant system that controlled the region's production. He also served for years as the mayor of Cornas, and when most of his neighbours were abandoning the granite terraces for factory work in the nearby cities, he continued farming the steep slopes with the same methods he had inherited. Robert Parker called him "the reference point for the appellation." Auguste Clape died in July 2018, aged 93. His son Pierre-Marie, who had worked beside him since 1988, carried the domaine forward until his own death in June 2025. The estate is now led by Olivier Clape, the third generation, who joined in 2002 after stints in Napa Valley, Australia and New Zealand.

Cornas is a northern Rhône AOC comprising a single village south of Hermitage. Its vineyards form a natural south- and south-east-facing amphitheatre, sheltered from the Mistral by the surrounding hills, on soils of decomposed granite — locally called gores — that give the wines their signature iron-and-stone mineral character. The appellation permits only red wine, 100% Syrah. The terraces are so narrow and steep that all vineyard work and harvest is done by hand.

The domaine farms 8.5 hectares in Cornas and Saint-Péray across parcels including La Côte, Reynards and Sabarotte — acquired when the legendary Noël Verset retired — with vines ranging from 40 to over 100 years old. In the cellar the philosophy is unchanged since Auguste: 100% whole-cluster fermentation, always, without exception. Indigenous yeasts, long macerations, and 12 to 22 months in oak foudres of 30 to 50 years old that are fully neutral in flavour. No new oak, no fining, no filtration. The 2009 Cornas received 99 points from Robert Parker — "the single greatest Cornas I have ever tasted" — and the 2022 received 96 from Wine Spectator.