This is a nice, affordable introduction to Cornas and the North Rhone that doesn’t require breaking the bank or a decade in the cellar to enjoy. The wine has the richer, slightly sweet red rustic fruit I think of when I think of Cornas, along with the holiday spice notes that kick over to subtle notes of black olive and dried herbs. Has Syrah intensity in the middle without high alcohol density.
Back in the day, this would have been a thoroughly respectable 88 or 89 (OMG - did I just score a wine?!), but in an era of grade inflation on the one hand and reverence for full throttle power on the other, I have no idea what this would rate (Oh, no, not quite). All I know is that I enjoyed it with baked chicken thighs crusted with dried herbs.
Thanks Jim. I’m new to the producer but enjoyed an 11 Geynale last week. Great typicity and depth of flavor with no makeup. I thought it was a real winner at $60 paid. Rob Panzer, board member, imports and retails these wines BTW.
I’m going to crack an '11 'Granit 60" tomorrow (I know young–but I have a few) after a '99 Texier Cote Rotie (I know potentially closed and acidic, but I drank the other I had and did not find that problem). I let you know how the V. P. turns out.
Please do. I’ve been loving the ‘30’ and the St. Joseph and I plan on tasting the white tonight with some people who are helping me out today (I’m taking very short breaks from slanging wine to sit at the computer and look serious while I’m typing posts like these).
This is the (edit) 14 Vin de Pays de l’Ardeche, apparently from Viognier planted on a Northern slope where Syrah won’t ripen. Unlike most Viogniers, it doesn’t taste overripe to me! Not as florid or floral as the grape can be, but explosive peach and pineapple aromas, with flavors to match. Creamy middle texture, but without flab, and builds to a bright and very intense finish, with good acidity and tension. I am not the biggest fan of the grape normally, but this is a real delight and at the price asked (around $20 here) it is a stunning bargain.
Yup, planted at the very top of the hill in Cornas, in a spot where his elders told him, “those grapes won’t ripen”.
If the climate is at it was in their generation, probably not. Things are different now.
It is dumbed down to VdP because you can’t legally have a white Cornas. If you could, it would be.
Visited with Vincent two weeks ago, '14s showed quite well, and the '15s, well, were insanely good.
Tried the Domaine Vincent Paris 2011 ‘Granit 60’ alongside a Marcel Juge 09 Cornas VV (I believe his last vintage), as I seem to have drunk the '99 Texier Cote Rotie I was planning to open. (Still some kinship with the substitute as I also am lead to understand that Texier helped finish the elevage and perhaps even the harvest of the Juge '09.)
In any case, both wines not surprisingly, were too young. The ‘Granit 60’ is doubtless a fine wine in the making: elegant, balanced, deep blue fruits, some hints of minerality and herbs (didn’t get olive myself) in the finish. At the same, just did not bring the excitement, the wildness I associate with Cornas next to the Juge. The latter, lighter in color, in addition to a fine beam of fruit, showed cacao, chalk, and gunmetal in the mid-palate, tailing off at the end (in something slightly acid/tannic, yet satisfying). Kept changing in the glass, fascinating to follow in the glass. I’m glad I have one more to hold for a minimum of 5, and with luck, another 10-15 years.
I had a 2013 Vincent Paris ‘Granit 30’ [Cornas] last night, with some hoisin chicken, snow peas, and jasmine rice. On the plus side I thought the tannins were resolved, and is pretty gluggable for what is normally an AOC of gravitas. It shows cool cranberry fruit, along with saddle, and a zippy acidic edge. On the down side it feels quite light bodied to me, not really what I’d expect from syrah/Cornas. And it doesn’t have the sauvage that Dumien Surette can show. I put half the bottle away in a 375ml, corked up in the fridge, and we’ll see if deepens at all in a day or two. I’d give this a B. If there was such a thing as ‘picnic Cornas’, this sort of felt like that to me.
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