2019 Domaine Johann Michel Cornas Cuvée Jana
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Tasting notes
Glass-staining, violet color. Heady, smoke- and spice-accented black and blue fruits, licorice, cola, exotic spices and olive paste on the expansive nose. Lush and broad on the palate, offering alluringly sweet cherry-cola, cassis, fruitcake and allspice flavors and a hint of smoky bacon. Finishes on a youthfully tannic note, with superb persistence and resonating blue fruit and spice notes.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Josh Raynolds
More reviews and scores
The tiny production 2019 Cornas Cuvée Jana is another gorgeous wine. More up-front and opulent than either the 2018 or 2016, it has a mass of blueberry and black cherry-like fruits as well as smoked game, bouquet garni, ground pepper, and iron. It hits the palate with a lush, opulent attack and has a terrific mid-palate, before the tannins build and clamp down on the finish, showing more loamy earth and mineral notes. It certainly displays the richer, ripe style of the vintage and has moderate acidity, yet the purity of fruit is spot on, it's beautifully balanced, and it’s going to keep for 25+ years in cold cellars.
Showing greater nuance and complexity on the nose, the 2019 Cornas Jana—named for Michel's daughter and sourced from Les Côtes and Chaillot—is a big step up from Michel's basic Cornas. Hints of violets, mint and crushed stone accent deep cassis and blueberry fruit, while the full-bodied palate is concentrated, rich and tannic, with a long, long, finish. Although not unenjoyable now, it's a Cornas for the cellar, with at least a decade of improvement possible.