Description
Summer-like scents of crushed stone, dusty roads, dried herbs and wild blackberries appear on the nose of the 2018 Cornas la Louvee. Looking much better from bottle than a pre-bottling sample I tasted in Cornas, it avoids any sense of jammy excess. Medium to full-bodied, it's supple and ripe, smooth and easy to drink, with a long, silky finish that adds savory hints of beef and anise.
Based in Cornas, the Colombo family—headed by Jean-Luc, his wife Anne and increasingly assisted by their daughter Laure—reaches up and down the Rhône and beyond for their négociant bottlings. While I've found some of those efforts to be inconsistent over the years, there's no denying the passion for Cornas that comes through in those wines. The 2018s are all excellent, from the entry-level Terres Brulées to the extravagantly priced, micro-production Vallon de l'Aigle.