The Lost Legend of Cornas: Jean Lionnet’s 1998 Masterpiece
1998 Domaine de Rochepertuis Cornas Magnum
It is impossible to talk about the history of Cornas without talking about Jean Lionnet. While Auguste Clape and Thierry Allemand became international celebrities with triple-digit price tags to match, Lionnet was the quiet giant of the village. He was a staunch traditionalist who refused to chase trends, crafting wines that were rugged, honest, and built for the infinite long haul. This bottle is a piece of history: The 1998 Rochepertuis was Lionnet’s "Tête de Cuvée," his top bottling sourced …
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The Lionnet Legacy: Jean Lionnet was a contemporary of Auguste Clape and widely respected as one of the region's true traditionalists. His wines are now historical markers of the "classic" Cornas style.
The Value Anchor: A bottle of 1998 Clape Cornas currently trades for $500+. This magnum offers the same vintage, the same village, and the same traditional philosophy from a peer of Clape, for a significantly more approachable price.
$350.00
Our Price
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Tasting notes
Aroma
A profound, evolved bouquet of roasted meat juices, black olive tapenade, truffle, and iron, with a lift of dried violet that only emerges after decades in the bottle.
Palate
Fully resolved and surprisingly velvety. The 28 years in magnum have tamed the "savage" nature of the 1998 vintage, leaving a wine that is savory, bloody, and incredibly long, with a finish of crushed stones and leather
Red Wine Body Profile
Light
Bold
Body Profile
Structured
75/100 Intensity
Light
Bold
75.0/100
Feather-light
Delicate
Lifted
Structured
Deep
Grapes
100% Syrah
Serving
57–61°F
Window
2025–2033
In Detail
A rare magnum from the late "Old School" master, sourced from the same granite slopes as Auguste Clape ($500+) but available for a fraction of the price
It is impossible to talk about the history of Cornas without talking about Jean Lionnet. While Auguste Clape and Thierry Allemand became international celebrities with triple-digit price tags to match, Lionnet was the quiet giant of the village. He was a staunch traditionalist who refused to chase trends, crafting wines that were rugged, honest, and built for the infinite long haul.
This bottle is a piece of history: The 1998 Rochepertuis was Lionnet’s "Tête de Cuvée," his top bottling sourced from his oldest vines in the Rochepertuis lieu-dit—a site that sits right next to the famous Reynards vineyard. This is the exact same granite terroir that fuels the $500+ wines of his neighbors.
Since Jean Lionnet’s passing, these older vintages have become increasingly rare artifacts of a bygone era. Finding a 1998—a vintage known for its immense structure and power—in a 1.5L Magnum is finding a unicorn. This is not just a bottle of wine; it is a tribute to one of the founding fathers of the modern Cornas appellation, drinking at its absolute peak performance.
