Cornas is a region for the intrepid winemaker. Perched high above the Rhône river on steeply-pitched hillsides, vine growers struggle to interpret the hardiness and power of its granite-filled terroir to produce wines of great... Read More

Cornas is a region for the intrepid winemaker. Perched high above the Rhône river on steeply-pitched hillsides, vine growers struggle to interpret the hardiness and power of its granite-filled terroir to produce wines of great power, honesty, and magical restraint. Here, unlike the more established stylistic traditions of Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage, the winemaker strives not to emulate but create something new that exists outside the terms “classical” and “modern”. Enter Mickaël Bourg: a young man, but one with an understanding of the land that goes well beyond his years or that of the region he makes wine from.

Back in 1955, Auguste Clape was the first to bottle a wine with the name Cornas. At the time, this little corner of the Ardeche was too daunting to farm by even the most adventurous winemaker's standards. Today, many winemakers have come to work these storied slopes. But with a desire to attract large followings, many have championed a more accessible, international style of syrah, bringing forward primary fruit flavors and supple texture while limiting the rustic tannic grip and non-fruit qualities that have been hallmark characteristics of wines from the region.

Mickaël Bourg eschews such an approach, instead embracing the more restrained possibilities for syrah from this terroir, in celebration of the style Clape championed back in 1955.

Bourg started as a mechanic, a strangely common beginning for Rhône winemakers. However, once he made the career change his future brightened quickly. After working for Guillaume Gilles and Matthieu Barret, he leased .5ha Syrah vines in 2006. In 2012 he purchased 1.5ha of Syrah vines that he could finally call his own.