Dom. Auguste Clape
Renaissance
Cornas
2016

The producer

One of the long-standing domaines of renown for lovers of Rhone wine, August Clape was making great wine already when most of the Rhone valley was lost in a time. The domain is very traditional, fermenting in unlined concrete and aging in smaller barrels, but the results are simply outstanding. Always blends from various plots across the appellation, these are Cornas famed for their richness and personality, and the second and third generation now in control at the estate are making no attempt to change what is a very successful model, even if single vineyard bottlings have become fashionable in the area. 

The wine

Since 1998, a second Cornas, the ‘Renaissance’, has been produced. Made from around 25 year old vines from some of Clape’s best vineyards, this is an earlier maturing wine, yet still with a likely ageing potential of at least two decades. A medium bodied wine with silky tannins and texture, and crisp acidity, Renaissance is the more approachable and forward of Clape’s single vineyard wines. It is also excellent value for money.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.