Domaine Auguste Clape is revered for pioneering tradition and setting the benchmark for Cornas and Northern Rhône Syrah. Auguste Clape was among the first to bottle his own wines, showcasing Cornas’ granite-slope terroir and establishing its global reputation. The estate’s steep, old-vine vineyards yield concentrated, characterful fruit. Clape’s traditional, minimal-intervention methods — whole-bunch fermentation and aging in neutral foudres — preserve purity, structure, and a true sense of place. The wines are powerful, deeply coloured, and built for longevity, evolving beautifully with age into complex layers of dark fruit, spice, and minerality. With family continuity, critical acclaim, and consistent quality, Clape embodies authenticity and craftsmanship, appealing to collectors and Syrah lovers seeking elegance, depth, and timeless expression.

“The passionate guardian of a tradition that in many ways he defined … the reference point for the appellation.” - Robert Parker

Cornas is one of the world’s few blue-chip addresses that we still associate with traditional winemaking. For this, we can thank Auguste Clape, the village’s icon, who has demonstrated for more than half a century how to make old school Cornas of beauty, typicity and character. Clape Cornas is the very essence of traditionally made Northern Rhône Syrah, born of the ancient clone, “la Petite Syrah,” planted in the village’s best sites, blended for balance and complexity and allowed to “make itself” as much as possible.

All of this is a result of Clape’s vast experience and open mind; he has always worked traditionally, but not bound by rules, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. As John Livingstone-Learmonth states in The Wines of the Northern Rhône, “... he is one of the few growers I have ever met who succeeds in bridging the connection between man and nature … Belief on the one hand, listening on the other. No closed walls. The true philosopher born of the exceptional opportunity that winemaking can confer.”