Walls: Domaine Alain Voge’s evolution in 10 wines

Alain Voge (1939 – 2020)

The late Alain Voge took over the family farm in 1961 after returning from Algeria. Like most estates during that time, the Voge family didn’t just grow grapes. They had fruit trees, a vine nursery and a distillery. But by 1980, Alain had given up these sidelines to concentrate entirely on making wine.

He was a relatively early adopter of organics, gaining certification for his Cornas vineyards in 2000. But shortly after, he started having problems with his health. In 2004 he had a liver transplant and stepped back from the day-to-day running of the business.

Twenty years of change

Alain employed Albéric Mazoyer, who had previously worked with Jean-Luc Colombo and Michel Chapoutier, as managing director (Chapoutier remains a partner in the business to this day). Albéric retired in 2018, handing over the management of the estate to Lionel Fraisse.

Lionel is the nephew of Robert Fraisse, respected local winemaker and long-time friend of Alain. To begin with, Lionel chose a different career, working in academic publishing. But in 2012 he decided to return to his roots.

‘It was my mid-life crisis!’ he says. He contacted Alain, who promised to show him how to make wine as long as Lionel joined the estate.

Describing the changing style of the wines, Lionel says that in the 1970s and ’80s, chaptalising was widespread. In the ’70s, some even added tannins – an idea that sounds crazy for Cornas but it was an ‘interventionist era’, he explains.

He says that Albéric steered the estate towards a more hands-off winemaking approach, and also favoured a more extracted style. Today, although labelled as organic, the estate works biodynamically.

The main change Lionel has made is to reduce the use of new oak in both the red and white wines. He wants to promote a more ‘vertical, fresh style,’ he says.

‘Alain’s vision was to stick to an artisanal size,’ says Lionel – the winemaking and élevage is still carried out in houses in the heart of the village of Cornas. They farm just 8ha of Cornas vines, 4ha of St-Péray and 1ha of St-Joseph.

The cellar at Domaine Alain Voge. Credit: Matt Walls

Les Vieilles Vignes, Cornas

Les Vieilles Vignes isn’t the top cuvée – that would be Les Vieilles Fontaines, a single-vineyard selection of 80-year-old Syrah from lieu-dit La Fontaine that’s only made in the best vintages.

When Les Vieilles Fontaines isn’t made, however, the grapes go into the long-running cuvée Les Vieilles Vignes, which is made annually. It’s more accessible in terms of both price (around £50 retail in the UK) and availability, but can age and develop with real interest.

Les Vieilles Vignes is a blend of several different lieux-dits dotted around the historic granite slope (Combe, Patou, La Côte, Tézier, Mazards and Chaillot), and the older vines from St-Pierre on the plateau.

There’s 20% whole bunch, a three-week maceration, and then the wine matures for 20 months in oak (barriques and demi-muids), 10-15% of which is new.

Fleur de Crussol, St-Péray

Alain was always a lover of the Côte d’Or, and with this cuvée, ‘he brought a bit of Burgundy to St-Péray,’ says Lionel.

The first vintage was 1999 and the idea, which was new to St-Péray, was to ferment and mature still wines in small oak barrels.

Of the three St-Péray cuvées made at the estate, Fleur de Crussol is the most ambitious. It’s made from a plot of 80-year-old Marsanne from lieu-dit La Côte, just above Hongrie. It was planted by Lionel’s great-grandfather, the appropriately named Auguste Marsanne.

Originally, 100% new oak was used but this has been gradually reduced and is now down to 20%. In addition, the domaine has moved from using exclusively barriques to 50% barriques and 50% demi-muids.

Domaine Alain Voge’s style – then and now

Over the past 20 years, the style of Cornas at Domaine Alain Voge has walked a line between the very traditional and the very modern.

Today, use of stems and new oak are both relatively discrete, making for a fairly fruit-forward style in youth that isn’t too robustly textured. Compared to its peers, it tends towards freshness and definition rather than muscle and heft.

Nonetheless, it speaks clearly of Cornas, and ages well, even in challenging years like 2014 and 2003. In great vintages, it can represent a smart buy considering the price.

The evolution of Fleur de Crussol has been more dramatic. The quality of the fruit has never been in doubt, but even as recently as the late 2010s, the barrel ageing has been excessive.

Since then, the domaine has dialled back on the use of oak, and the crystalline purity and salinity of the fruit has been correspondingly accentuated. This remains an oaked cuvée, but today it’s a well-balanced one.

The 2020 vintage marks an exceptional year at Domaine Alain Voge, for both Les Vieilles Vignes and Fleur de Crussol.

I’m hoping that it also represents an even keel for this domaine that has seen so much change in the past 20 years. If the style and quality of the 2020s represent a new normal, then the future looks bright.