The origins of the Courbis family estate date back to the 16th century.  More recently, the brothers Dominique and Laurent Courbis succeeded their father, Maurice, in the early 1990s. They have since firmly established themselves as leaders of the modern school of winemaking in St Joseph and Cornas. The Courbis style may be summarized as offering wines filled with intense aromas and fruit of great purity and length. This is in large part achieved by a combination of meticulous and sustainable vineyard work undertaken to attain perfectly ripe, healthy, concentrated grapes and vinification and aging in both tanks and barriques. The wines emphasize the expression of fruit while highlighting the character of the various St-Joseph and Cornas vineyard origins..

The estate owns 26 hectares divided as follows: 5 ha in Cornas, 5 ha of St Joseph Blanc, and 15 hectares of St Joseph Rouge and 1 hectare of Vin de Pays de l’Ardeche. The vineyards are all on south and east facing slopes in the communes of Chateaubourg, Glun and Cornas.  All the grapes are harvested by hand and yields are kept to an average of 30 hl/ha. The fruit is rigorously sorted and 100% de-stemmed. The maceration period for the Syrahs lasts between two and three weeks. The wines mature mostly in barriques which are new or up to three years old. The red wines are fined with egg yokes and are not filtered. They are bottled about two years after the harvest.

The St-Joseph Blanc derives from vines planted on a unique limestone section of the St Joseph appellation, whose soil is suited only for white grapes. The blend is 95% Marsanne and 5% Roussanne. The white is fermented in tanks at low temperatures, and aged in one third in new barriques (with weekly battonage) and two thirds in tanks. The white wine is kept on its fine lees until the Spring after the harvest to develop additional complexity. It is assembled and bottled after 10 months of maturation. It is a racy, lively wine with distinct flavors of pit fruits (apricots) and spice.

The St-Joseph Rouge and the Cornas Champelrose come from various vineyard parcels across the Courbis domaine. The soils are a combination of limestone and granite. The various parcels are blended to attain St Joseph and Cornas wines that ready for near term drinking upon release. The St-Joseph Rouge is aged in a combination of tanks and barrels: 35% tank and 65% barrels, of which 15% are new. After 10 months, the barrel aged wine is assembled back in tank for a few more months before bottling. The Cornas Champelrose is aged entirely in casks that are usually 10% new, 50% one year, and 20% each 2-3 years of age. The barrel-aging period is 12 months, after which the wine is assembled in tank and aged for a few more months before bottling. Both wines have generous fruit and show the full character of their respective appellations in the attractive Courbis house style.

Among the single-vineyard wines, the steeply terraced St-Joseph Les Royes site is a spectacular “cirque” or steep amphitheater. It is located at the southern limit of the St. Joseph appellation, on the border of Cornas. Exposition is south-east which retains the heat of the day, while completely protecting the vines from northerly winds. The soil is a mixture of clay, granite, and limestone (the latter being the source of the small amount of Les Royes Blanc.) Yields are a miniscule 25 hl/ha. The Les Royes Rouge is aged 100% in barrels, of which about 1/3 are new and the balance being between 1 and 3 years of age. After 12-14 months in cask, the wine is assembled and aged for 3 additional months in tank before bottling. The St-Joseph Les Royes is a profound and complex wine with sweet black cherry-raspberry fruit, notes of minerals and smoke, and ripe tannins that give it remarkable structure.

Domaine Courbis offers two exquisite, single-vineyard Cornas wines. The 1 hecatare, terraced Cornas Les Eygats site is situated at a relatively high 250 meters of altitude. It has pure granite soil and has an ideal south-east exposure. Les Eygats is aged entirely in barriques for 16 months, of which 50% are new and 50% and one year old. It is a highly concentrated wine, packed with smoky black fruit that can age for many years but is always inviting when young. The Cornas La Sabarotte parcel – widely considered to be among the very best sites of the appellation -- has extremely old vines (most planted in 1947 but some are even older) on a granite-limestone soil. La Sabarotte is aged in 100% new oak for 16 months and undergoes its malolactic fermentation in cask. It is Courbis’ most dramatic wine, showing saturated black-purple in color with layers of chewy, ripe, sweet fruit with black olive and berry, tar and mineral notes.

Courbis also produces a cuvee of mostly young vines St-Joseph as their Syrah Vin de Pays de l’Ardeche. This wine is aged in tanks and has an intense, dark color with powerful dark berry and cassis fruit. It is a remarkable value.

The wines of the Courbis estate are some of the most compelling examples of St. Joseph and Cornas being made today. The Courbis brothers’ have successfully combined their long family experience with a modern style, and their achievement has earned them international recognition. In a feature profile on the domaine in 2002, Wine Spectator noted that “Laurent and Dominique Courbis are giving Cornas added cachet with their sophisticated Syrahs.” Robert Parker sums it up in his book on Rhone wines: “Courbis is a name to watch in the Northern Rhone.”  Courbis wines regularly receive rave reviews in Wine Spectator, International Wine Cellar, The Wine Advocate and Revue du Vin de France.