Deep Cover: Introducing the Three Musketeers of the Rhône Valley!

Per Vinous, “with an all-star ownership team of Yves Cuilleron, François Villard and Pierre Gaillard, one can safely assume that the wines being made here, across the board, are of extremely high quality, and they are.”

Imagine Thomas Brown, Julien Fayard, and Philippe Melka making wine together. You’re looking at a top winemaker collaboration that’s equally rare, from a Napa vs. Rhône perspective. Vins de Vienne could as well be the best thing that happened in the Northern Rhône since La Chapelle was built in 1224.

With only a few hundred cases made of each of their 20 odd labels every vintage, these wines are really hard to source in meaningful quantities. As Wine Spectator explains, “Founded in 1998 by three Northern Rhône-based vintners (Cuilleron, Gaillard and Villard), Les Vins de Vienne is a ‘micro-négociant’ operation turning out wines that are distinctly modern-styled yet filled with terroir.”

And Cornas is the home of mythical vignerons such as Verset, Juge, Allemand, and Voge. While $100 a bottle is a sound budget to experience the greatness of the appellation, collectors are known to spend north of $2,000 a bottle for some of those rarities. So, to be able to offer you, from not 1 but 3 of the most sought after vignerons collaborating in a single vineyard for under $40 is a thrilling opportunity to get to know what Cornas is capable of, at a value proposition you’d be hard pressed to find again.

Hitting its ideal peak drinking window just about now, it’s a showcase of the purity of fruit the region is famous for, along with the richness, oomph, and depth you will rarely find in the northern parts of the Northern Rhône, as Cornas is one of the southernmost outposts of the OG Valley of the world’s greatest Syrahs. The perfume alone is worth the ticket of entry, with the telltale fresh cracked Tellicherry pepper and mounds of briny black olives, enveloping an avalanche of black, blue, and purple fruits, with chiseled minerality that reminds you of how site-specific micro-production cuvées triumph over homogeneity.

Back to the Wine Spectator to underline how cool a project this truly is, indeed “a rare success story of three vignerons: friends, competitors and collaborators pushing Limits in the Rhône.” They continue that, “Les Vins de Vienne has branched out to become a quality powerhouse throughout the Rhône - with 10 single-vineyard estate reds and whites from Côte-Rôtie to Crozes-Hermitage and St.-Péray and a négociant arm that bottles another 27 labels from as far south as Châteauneuf-du-Pape.”

There were 120 cases imported, true, but by the time fine restaurants got their share, all we could grab for you was about 20 cases, and at this price, they will go fast.

93 Points - Wine Spectator “This rich version is ripe and hedonistic, particularly for the vintage, offering spiced black currant and grilled mesquite smoke flavors that reveal a bedrock of graphite and a lot of sanguine drive and power. Best from 2025 through 2035. 330 cases made, 120 cases imported.”