Domaine du Coulet, Matthieu Barret Cornas Brise Cailloux 2023

100% Syrah

Cornas, Rhone, France

A fruit-forward wine offering incredible freshness. This elegant Cornas is approachable in its youth, though it has an ideal cellaring potential of 8 to 10 years. This wine is sourced from two-thirds of the estate's vineyard plots, spanning both the lower and mid-slopes and comprising a mix of young and old vines. Aged for 18 months in 10-hectolitre terracotta jars and diamond-shaped concrete tanks. VEGAN. Approx 1,200 cases produced.

Matthieu Barret was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1975 and studied viticulture in Beaune. He is the 7th generation vigneron, joining his grandfather in Cornas in 1997. Since his first solo vintage of Cornas, released at the age of 25, Matthieu has risen among the ranks of Northern Rhône producers with his rustic and earthy expression of the land. With just four hectares of land, Matthieu instituted a holistic approach to farming, achieving organic certification in 1999 and biodynamic in 2000. In 2006, he inherited the full 11 ha from his family in Cornas, supplemented it with two ha of Côtes du Rhône Blanc, and planted five ha of Côtes du Rhône Rouge (a total of 18 ha). He is also the only owner of Vallée du Coulet, a steep valley that extends from 150m up to 350m in the northernmost part of Cornas. This property’s unique exposure to Le Mistral and a cooler climate results in one of the most elegant terroirs in Cornas. Frustrated by the similarities in elevage among his wines and many others in the region, in 2006, Matthieu introduced concrete eggs into his cellar and began to mature his wines in old barrels and foudre (minimum of eight years old in his cellar). Matthieu no longer buys new barrels, only eggs, and has refined his technique to create a strong identity around freshness, acidity, and elegance. In 2012, Barret stopped using machines in Cornas and replaced them with mules, horses, and manual labor. He also started to create green spaces around the vineyards and dug watering holes to cultivate an ecosystem with a diversity of species. The wild un-kept existence of his vineyards remind Matthieu of his youth and generational ties to Cornas. For him, it’s the way it should be and for the future the way it has to be.