Serious Syrah at a snip
It's a great feeling watching a young man like Vincent Paris getting better and better. With each vintage, he is achieving mastery of his vineyards and as Parker's enthusiasm for the wines demonstrates, his reputation grows. Personable and diffident, Vincent's amiable personality fits perfectly with the resurgence of Cornas as the last of the Northern Rhone's Appellations to find its feet. While no tortured genius, he's a reflective guy and his wines reflect that inner Cornas soul with freshness and even elegance thrown in. They are beautifully and minimally crafted with woven tannins and gorgeous, complex fruit. Once decanted they have a floral character with intense black fruit, bacon fat and pine needles, fine grained tannin and long finishes.
Cornas is a little piece of La France Profonde, isolated and yet only just across the river from the pretty town of Valence. Vineyards, like Paris' La Geynale and the Granit 60's Patou and Les Mazards sites are at high altitude, yet mercifully sheltered from the worst of the Mistral. The hills are steep and warm and light is plentiful on the south facing slopes. These austere granite surroundings produce some of the most characterful, soulful Syrah anywhere in the world.
Allocations of this brilliant young man's wines are less plentiful this year, but we got in on the ground floor and you still can too. /CW
