Mark Haisma is an Australian winemaker who built his reputation in Burgundy before turning his attention south to the Northern Rhône. He brings the same precision and restraint to Cornas that defines his Burgundian work, an outsider's clarity applied to one of France's most uncompromising appellations. The result is a wine that respects the place without being dominated by it. Cornas sits at the southern end of the Northern Rhône, producing 100% Syrah from steep granite terraces above the town. It is a small, fiercely individual appellation with a continental climate, warm summers, cold winters, and soils that leave an unmistakable iron and mineral signature on everything grown here. Historically the most tannic and age-worthy of the Northern Rhône crus, Cornas is showing a more refined side in the hands of a new generation, and Haisma is very much part of that shift. 2021 was a cool, late-ripening vintage across the Northern Rhône. Spring frosts and uneven flowering reduced yields and concentrated what remained, while the extended growing season preserved freshness and lifted natural acidity. It is a vintage of precision rather than power, producing wines that are structured and age-worthy but with a transparency and elegance that makes them more approachable than many expected. On the nose it is dark and savoury, black cherry, plum and violet alongside cracked black pepper, graphite and a cool iron-mineral thread that is unmistakably Cornas. On the palate the tannins are fine-grained and precise, giving shape without dominating, while the fruit stays pure and focused all the way through. The acidity is bright and well-integrated, adding length and drive to a finish that lingers with iron, graphite and a whisper of dark fruit long after the glass is empty. Decant for at least an hour now, or cellar for 5 to 10 years.
