The Rising Price of Cornas

2016 Guillaume Gilles coming in above $70.
This is my last vintage. And I’m probably out for Gonon, Chave, Allemand, Jamet, Barge, Souhaut, and pretty much everything I’ve picked up even a few bottles of over the last five years. Pricing is total BS and apparently really elevated over European prices.

I only wish I could convince the entire No Rhône buying population of the US to boycott the people that are raising prices 20-50% per vintage - they’re not the wineries. I am seriously done.

I overbought over the '09-'14 vintages. I like them, but I don’t drink Northern rhone often, so over a few years I ended up with enough Northern rhone to last 10-15 years at my consumption rate. When I looked at cellar rebalancing, I initially scolded myself for going overboard, but now I’m happy with my holdings… while they last.

Gilles at $70 is a huge bump. But still worth it to me. I’m probably done with Allemand on release.

Trade you some Yquem for 'em

Noah, bugs me too so i have pretty much dropped out too.

Suggestion…try the Model Farm syrah made by Joanna (Kutch AWM) ans Sean (Rhys AWM). 45 bucks. Sure, it’s not from N Rhone but it’s damn good, with inspiration from that genre.

I think it’s safe to say that these wines are only going to keep going up as more people discover them and demand continues to rise. I think that’s where it’s important to keep trying to find new wines that you enjoy and new wines that are exciting to buy. Just like many of us bemoan that we can’t reasonably afford wines like 1st Growths, GC Burgs, and some of the other top end wines in the world. These are finally moving into that pantheon that they’re no longer the price that we’re comfortable with. I expect Beaujolais, and a few others will eventually enter this realm too. When wines like Marcel Lapierre hit the $50+ mark…

European brokers have taken a really strong position on N Rhone as well. You’ll find the pricing post allocation release of N rhones in the US and Europe rather high.

Yeah I’ve been passing on the price hikes of 16 as well. Balthazar seems to have gone up too and I guess we will soon see about Levet and Benetiere.

Balthazar was the same price from envoyer for 15/16 chaillot

This is an importer thing right? (Not increases from the producer)

I can’t seem to get them to send me an offer for anything that’s seemingly limited. [shrug.gif] I get every this is the last Comtes offer though.

It´s insane - an sad.
Problem is: Cornas has only slightly more than 100 ha, less than Cote-Rotie and Hermitage - and most growers have only a few ha …
so when demand increases it´s easy for the market to sell even at high prices - obviously …

However - imho Cornas usually needs considerable aging time to show best … but I´m sure many bottles are drunk far too early …
at 8-12 years it´s (imho) quite a waste … 20+ years would be necessary!
[shrug.gif]

Levet has gone up at least 20-30% in last few years. I haven’t paid much attention to Hermitage or LaLa’s because I think they’ve been overpriced for ages anyway, but I don’t know any well-regarded or more classic No Rhône offhand that hasn’t gone up considerably for 15/16.

You may be able to find an exception here and there (waiting for a mention of 100pt Dunnuck Courbis Eygats or something similar) but Allemand at $200 is just ridiculous to me.

Maybe I’ll start buying CdP, now that Parker’s retired and nobody cares about them anymore.

Pre-sale from JJ Buckley on Beaucastel is almost reasonable these days. It’s only $20 over what I paid for the wines in 2005 from the shelf of a wine shop.

True this. One of my sources in France is offering Jamet Côte Brune for >250…

The 2015 Coudelet de Beaucastel is excellent and sub-$25. I’m drinking them like Koolaide, and they have room to grow.

Funny how I really enjoyed a pair of mature bottles of Robert Michel Cornas back in 2010, the 1983 was good, but the 1985 was stunningly enjoyable, yet didn’t buy another bottle of Cornas until 2013 and then another 3 year wait before buying a further bottle. I picked up further bottles in the last two years, but price escalation may stop this revival of interest in it’s tracks. I do take the view that there is plenty of wine out there, so being priced out of one area, isn’t the end of the world.

Unfortunately, you could almost post this about every wine region to some extent.

I too wish they were less costly, but at the same time, these aren’t flexible wines that are a heavy part of the drinking rotation. They are too stern for most casual wine drinkers that might be over for dinner. They aren’t really good ‘guys drinking while BBQing meat’ kind of wines. Even my SO doesn’t like 90% of No. Rhones, so at home I’m not generally pulling corks on these when its just us. I have to wait til some enthusiasts are around, or maybe a Friday night, when an open bottle can be consumed over multiple nights, just by me. There is another neighborhood cocktail party tonight, and probably one of the last things I’d ever consider throwing onto the kitchen counter would be a No. Rhone of any kind… (I’m thinking I’ll take a Vouvray and an internationally styled Spanish wine)

Price increases in basic NV Champers would be more of a problem, since that’s something we ‘use’ much more of given its flexibility.

“AWM”??