RIP: Marcel Juge

I just heard that Marcel passed away on the 14th of August. He was an icon in Cornas. He made really unique and beautifully expressive wines in the small cellar under his home. He will be missed.
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Man. Rip. Wish I had the chance to visit him.

Ugh. Such terrible news. Thanks for sharing Ryan.

End of an era! RIP

RIP…

Left quite a mark on the region. RIP.

an ICON. RIP

He is the standard by which future Cornas winemakers will be juged.

I thought that was Noel Verset?

For what it’s worth, a search of French avis de déces shows that he died on August 14 (unless there is more than one Marcel Juge in Cornas).

Nice play on words.

Sad to hear.

Very sad news. He didn’t get much of a retirement. A legend.

You’re correct. I misread the text I received. Will update original post.

RIP. Just seeing this and a shiver went up my spine.

With his passing I think all of the Northern Rhône winemakers who had a direct connection with the late 19th and early 20th Century vignerons that lived into Marcel’s youth are now gone. Truly the end of an era.

Every wine geek carries in their memory bottles that left an indelible mark. For me one of them was the 97 Juge Cuvée C that Greg Dal Piaz shared with me and Jayson at a long since closed restaurant on the West Side (@sqc). That had to be in 05 or 06, but the impression of that bottle (Juge at its most “Burgundian”) is fresh as ever.

Yep. One of mine is also bringing the ‘96 Cuvée C to also-long-gone Cendrillon in SoHo for a dinner with Joe Dougherty and maybe Mike Dasche in 2001-ish. On tasting it, Joe said with a very SFJoe expression: “Oh shit, that’s good.”

His retirement was making craft wine on a much smaller scale than before. I think he was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing, for as long as he could. A life well lived.

I love all the stories. I ordered a bottle of 2010 around 2013 after reading about the wines. All my previous reading about Cornas made it seem as thought the wines were extremely wild and feral, needing a lot of time in the cellar to mellow out. Marcel’s wines sounded different. I opened that first bottle of 2010 Cornas and was smitten. It was so expressive. Wild on the nose, yet elegant and so light on the palate. It may not qualitatively be the best wine made in Cornas, but it is the wine that I most enjoy. I went out and bought all I could of subsequent vintages. It didn’t end up being much because supply get really tight after the 2012’s were released. Two years ago I was able to visit Marcel for the first and only time. I was able to purchase 6 bottles of his 2015 Cornas which he labeled himself. He was looking around for some old Cuvee SC labels to label them with as a joke but couldn’t find them in the end. They received the regular labels. I hand carried them back to the states. No time seems right to open them. Perhaps with my kids down the line if they show an interest in wine.

Never had one. Likely never will. Sad to lose an artisan.

Enjoyed many of his bottles in the past. He will certainly be missed. RIP.

Marshall