2011 Jean-Luc Colombo Terres Brûlées Cornas 750 ml

When we scan the wine list at a restaurant, we’re not looking for anything specific. 

But what we’re hoping for is a bottle that jumps off the page, one with a killer combination of age, pedigree, and scarcity that demands we buy it on the spot—because if we don’t, we might never get a chance to try it again. 

That’s precisely what the 2011 Jean-Luc Colombo Terres Brulees Cornas is.

There is nothing about this nearly-impossible-to-find wine that doesn’t hit the perfect note. From the miniscule Northern Rhône appellation regarded as a Syrah holy land, it was crafted by Jean-Luc Colombo, the man known as the “King of Cornas.” 

On release, Wine Enthusiast named this bottle an Editors’ Choice and the Cornas wine of the vintage. Now, after a decade in the Colombo cellars, it’s drinking perfectly, with the Syrah’s sometimes-surly disposition tamed by time. 

Thanks to their graceful ageworthiness, many of Colombo’s library bottles are already evolving in the cellars of savvy collectors and MICHELIN-starred restaurants—and because Cornas is so small, production is severely limited. The entire appellation contains fewer than 300 acres of vineyards. That’s less than some estates. Plus, Cornas has strict production laws: Its wines must contain 100% Syrah from the region and irrigation is prohibited, so the low-yielding vines struggle, producing grapes of intense concentration.

Colombo’s Terres Brûlées—which means “burnt lands”—is pulled from 20 different parcels. It ages in 15% new oak for 21 months, which gives the wine a touch of New World softness without sacrificing its longevity. This is a rare chance to taste the perfectly aged work of a master, just the way it was intended.