2020 Domaine Durand Confidence Cornas 750 ml

There is no imposing château at Domaine Durand. No reception desk and no PR staff. 

In fact, we tracked down the Durand frères in the town of Châteaubourg (pop. 211) by spotting their worn shingle hanging in a narrow alleyway. We ducked our heads and stepped into the tiny subterranean tasting room, where Éric and Joël Durand greeted us themselves with baguettes and a big plate of charcuterie and cheese.

Judging by the personal welcome and the unadorned room, you could easily take Domaine Durand for a humble, provincial winemaking operation.

Yet, Éric and Joël Durand’s 2020 Confidence Cornas—the new vintage of a bottling Jeb Dunnuck called “one of my favorite Cornas”—earned a 95+ point score that outscored Rhône icon Domaine Clape’s 2020 Cornas Renaissance ($100+). 

Like Côte-Rôtie and Hermitage—the other two appellations that define European Syrah—Cornas is a big name with tiny production. Jancis Robinson once wrote “A top Cornas…offers all the intensity of and power of a great Hermitage, but at a fraction of the price of its more ‘noble’ neighbour.” Ask any sommelier: Cornas should be on the radar of any collector.

Eric and Joël Durand own just under ten hectares in Cornas. They took over the family estate in 1991, and today they farm these vines—staked individually on hillsides so steep they’re nearly unworkable—with precision and care. 

The Domaine Durand Confidence comes from 30-year-old vines on their finest plots. 2020 was an excellent vintage in the Northern Rhône: a warm, dry season that Jeb Dunnuck called “an exceptional vintage for the Northern Rhône. The wines are powerful and concentrated yet hold onto a wonderful sense of purity and freshness.”