Pierre-Marie Clape, longtime steward of Domaine Clape in Cornas, passed away on June 28, 2025, after a brief and sudden battle with cancer. His loss marks the passing of a man who carried forward one of the Rhône’s great winemaking traditions with humility, conviction, and grace. He was 74.
The Clape name is synonymous with Cornas. The domaine was founded by Pierre-Marie’s father, Auguste Clape, who settled in Cornas in the late 1940s and became one of the first to bottle wine under his own name. At a time when the appellation was all but forgotten, Auguste championed its rugged granite slopes and fiercely traditional methods. That vision was passed to Pierre-Marie, who joined the domaine full-time in 1988 and helped establish Domaine Clape as one of the Rhône’s benchmarks.
In 2002, his son Olivier Clape joined the estate after gaining winemaking experience abroad, including time in Napa Valley, Australia, and New Zealand. Working alongside his father and, later, his son, Pierre-Marie continued to farm the domaine’s steep hillside vineyards, producing soulful, authentic, and classic wines. While the results were unapologetically old-school Cornas, structured, wild, and built for the long haul, they never lost a sense of purity, and they remain some of the world’s finest expressions of Syrah. Under his leadership, the domaine remained modest in scale and unwavering in its identity.
Pierre-Marie was a fixture in Cornas but never sought the spotlight. I had the privilege of visiting him annually for nearly 15 years. While his wines could be firm and austere, the man was anything but. He always greeted me with a perpetual smile and a quiet generosity. After each tasting, we had a tradition of going to lunch in Saint-Péray. It was during those meals, always shared with a bottle of wine, that I got to know him better. He carried himself with humility and deep respect for the land, always emphasizing the vineyard and the work over any personal acclaim. He epitomized the word vigneron. At a time of change in the Rhône, he helped preserve Cornas and ensured its traditions would continue with integrity.
Today, his son Olivier carries on that work. My heart goes out to Pierre-Marie’s family and loved ones.
He will be deeply missed.
Jeb
