Alain Voge, Cornas, Les Vieilles Fontaines 2016

Beautiful and certainly in its prime drinking window, the 2016 Cornas Les Vieilles Fontaines offers ripe darker berries, violets, orange blossom, and bouquet garni. It's incredibly well-balanced, with a fine, graceful mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and outstanding length. This is largely about finesse and elegance without sacrificing classic Cornas character, and it has another 10-15 years of prime drinking. Drink 2026-2040.

Looking much better than the sample I reviewed last year, the 2016 Cornas Vieilles Fontaines has come into its own. It's still cedary but also mammothly concentrated in blackberry and plum fruit, all underscored by notes of crushed granite. Full-bodied and muscular, it's elegant at the same time, with mouthwatering, juicy fruit and softly dusty tannins on the long finish.

Dark purple. Deep-pitched cassis, blueberry, candied licorice and violet aromas are complicated by olive and licorice nuances. Broad and expansive on the palate, offering deeply concentrated black and blue fruit liqueur, spicecake and floral pastille flavors and an incense-tinged flourish of smoky minerals. Becomes sweeter and more energetic with air and finishes extremely long and spicy, with slow-building tannins and lingering florality.