More open and ready to go than the Vieilles Fontaines, the beautiful 2006 Cornas Vieilles Vignes offers classic notes of black olives, scorched earth, beef blood and black currants. Medium to full-bodied, layered, ripe and even sexy, yet still fresh and lively, drink it anytime over the coming decade.

The 2006 Cornas Vieilles Vignes is a spicy, medium to full-bodied effort that does not possess the concentration of the 2007. It shows more tart acids along with notes of camphor, blackberries, and charcoal presented in an earthy style. With the brilliant oenologist, Albert Mazoyers, in charge of winemaking for Alain Voge, who is now in quasi-retirement, these wines have gotten stronger and more consistent over recent vintages. Voge is fashioning the finest dry white of St.-Peray. In some vintages, Voge produces a luxury Cornas cuvee called Les Vieilles Fontaines, but that wine was not produced in 2007. Voge is now producing some attractive, consumer-friendly St.-Joseph.Importer: No known American importer

Hard nose, palate rich, a little unyielding, quite solid, but good.