Domaine Clape
by Chris Santini
You’ve got a friend in CORNAS Pennsylvania,” read the vanity PA license plate hanging in the winery at Domaine Clape. Likely an old gift from an admiring client, the plate caught my eye as soon as I passed through the doors for the first time. Though unexpected, something about that Pennsylvania ornament felt right at home there. The working-class vibe of the area, the rusting factories along the Rhône, the salt-of-the-earth feel from the modest Clape family—all reminded me of the hardworking and hardscrabble Allentown, PA, area that was my home in the 1980s. Pierre-Marie Clape, with his dark beard, deep-set eyes, thick hands, weathered voice, and worn jeans, all spoke to his commitment and dedication to a craft. His gentle, welcoming smile and reserved humility affirmed the depth of his humanity and the goodness of his being. His father, Auguste, worked hard in the 1950s to unite growers to move from subsistence farming and selling off their wines in bulk to bottling and selling their own production. Pierre-Marie, upon joining Auguste in 1988, carried on the tradition of mutual assistance by presiding over the appellation of Cornas for fourteen years, pushing the renown of the village by uniting the growers behind a common goal of making the best the terroir has to offer, unconditionally. Pierre-Marie reveled in the years when his son Olivier joined the estate in the early 2000s, making for three generations of Clapes all working and living side by side, carrying Cornas ever onward and upward. Auguste passed away at ninety-three years old in 2018, and, much to everyone’s shock, Pierre-Marie joined him, much too soon, just last year. He is dearly missed by his fellow growers, who are quick to point out how much he did for the collective good, and by clients near and far. His work carries on with Olivier, cut from the same cloth, and Domaine Clape will continue to be the standard-bearer for the wonderful, heady, mysterious, dark, and noble wine that is Cornas for many years to come.
2024 Le Vin des Amis
France | Northern Rhône
A remarkably fresh, fruit-forward, low-alcohol Syrah, grown on the old rocky riverbed of the Rhône. To be enjoyed and shared with friends, just as its name intended.
2023 Cornas
France | Northern Rhône
This is it, the culmination of three generations of dedication and devotion, and the final vintage that Pierre-Marie and Olivier saw through together, from the harvest through the blending before the bottling last year. Chapeau bas, famille Clape!