Our final visit was even further south in the beautiful mountaintop vineyards of Cornas in the Rhone Valley. Here we met one of the great winemaker/owners of the area Jean-Luc Colombo. Monsieur Jean-Luc loves to be out of doors, so we spent a good part of our visit trekking up and down the very steep slopes of his vineyards, which have spectacular views of the Rhone River Valley and the villages and castles below. Jean-Luc is very aware of the unique terroir of this area including the woods and flowers, animals and insects which, as part of the cycle of nature, help make the wines of Cornas so distinctive. And he absolutely hates irrigation, which he claims gives a false impression of the vintage.
For dinner we went back to Jean-Luc's house near the top of the mountain, where he prepared rack of lamb on his large fireplace, and we sat at table with Jean-Luc, his very kind and gracious wife, their daughter Laure (who is currently studying winemaking at Ch. Haut-Brion and plans to follow in her father's footsteps soon), and some of her friends who were visiting for the weekend. We re-tasted many of the wines, which were wonderful, and finished with Cuban cigars and Lapsang Souchong tea. What a pleasure it was to enjoy such fine things in such pleasurable surroundings, and to be made to feel like one of the family!
This is Jean-Luc Colombo in one of his vineyards. An idyllic setting, indeed. We shall never taste another bottle of Cornas without thinking of the woods and the rustling of the breeze, the scents of the flowers, the sound of the birds, and the ladybugs in the grass!