Wine Advisor
Vincent Paris, Cornas La Geynale 2007
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The most impressive offering is the black/purple-colored 2007 Cornas La Geynale. Aromas of pen ink, charcoal, blackberry jam, licorice, and saddle leather are followed by huge, massive flavors suggestive of concentrated beef blood and ink. Dense, pure, rich, and broodingly backward, it needs 5-6 years of bottle age, and should drink well over the following two decades. These impressive, quasi-modern-styled Cornas reveal the influence of barrique aging, but there is no doubting their savage blast of blue and black fruits as well as spring flowers. In 2007, Paris has added a third cuvee from one of the most highly respected vineyard sites high on the steep hills of Cornas, La Geynale. A Thomas Calder Selection (various importers) Paris, fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Ruby-red. Exotically perfumed bouquet smoky dark berries, incense, anise and tobacco, complicated by a sexy floral quality. Juicy, deeply concentrated black raspberry and blackcurrant flavors are enlivened by a tangy mineral note and framed by chewy tannins. This has taken a darker turn since I saw it last year. The finish repeats the anise and floral notes and lingers impressively. As serious as the Granit 60 seems, this is even more brooding today but holds out excellent promise.
About the Producer
Domaine Vincent Paris is a relatively new but well-respected wine producer based in Cornas in the Rhône valley region of southeast France. The domaine specialises in Syrah wines from both the Cornas region itself and neighboring appellations. The area is traditionally known for rustic expressions of this grape, but Paris' wines attract acclaim for their combination of intensity and freshness. The first Vincent Paris wine was released in 1997 and he farms around 17 hectares (42 acres) of vineyards at various points along the Cornas slope and into Saint-Joseph. The entry-level wine is the Granit 30, produced from younger vines on gentler granite slopes – though sites on 30-degree inclines are still hard to cultivate. The Granit 60 is sourced from precipitous terraced and inclined (on slopes ranging up to 60-degrees) plots in the Patou, Les Mazards and Saumon sites in Cornas. The vines for the latter cuvée range from 40-100 years old. The range-topping La Geynale cuvée is based a century-old, one-hectare (2.5-acre) lieu-dit of the same name on a south-facing granite-based slope at the foot of the Reynard vineyard. The domaine also produces a white Côtes du Rhône combining Viognier and Roussanne from a small hilltop parcel within the (red wine-only) Cornas boundaries. A Saint-Joseph Syrah is also made from a single plot near Ardoix.
