Johann Michel

Johann Michel discovered his passion for wine while tasting older vintages of wine withhis

grandfather and uncle, notable winemaker Robert Michel, in Cornas . Though he started his

professional life working in clothing retail, he quickly realized that he was neither making the

professional life orking in clothing retailhe quickly realized that he as neither making the

of his own label Cornas was 1997.He now farms 4.17 hectares in Cornas, one of the smallest

AOCs in all of France (it encompasses only 288 hectares ,) Though his methods at this point

are largely constituted as lutte raisonnée, Michel is interested in biodynamics and has already

started to incorporate some practices like cooper treatment as opposed to harsher chemicals

on the vines . Yields for Cornas AOC are notoriously low (33 hl/ha) which accounts for the

intense concentration of the juice over all. His total annual production amounts only to about

20,000 btls/year

Michel’s Cornas’ are precise and arguably more linear than the average bottling out of the

black olive, and pepper. Michel also produces an entry level Syrah called Grains Noirs or

Black Grapes, the first vintage of which is 2012. This bottling is also 100% Syrah but made

from grapes falling both within and slightly outside of the delimitation of Cornas AOC. This

es falling both ithin and slightly outside of the delimitation of Cornas