Brilliant Mistake - Domaine Vincent Paris, Cornas, Granit 60, 2014 (Apr. 10, 2016)


The mistake was mine. I meant to open the entry level Granit 30. Then I noticed the label read vieilles vignes, and I thought, "wait, if the Granit 30 is old vines, how old are the vines for the Granit 60?"

And then I noticed I opened the wrong bottle.

I'll just have to buy another bottle, then. Because this is great. And it's not even Paris' top wine - that honor goes to the single vineyard Geynale, which I'm not going to open just yet.

Vincent Paris is Eldad Levy's latest Rhone import. He's been making wine for just a little less than twenty years, but he's the nephew of Cornas legend Robert Michel, and has inherited both his uncle's touch and some of his plots (the Geynale I mentioned above). The Granit 60 is typical north Rhone Syrah, with aromas of black pepper, iron and olives, and it should have been painfully young to drink, back in the old days of Cornas (I wasn't around in those old days, but if you've read anything about Cornas, then the first paragraph always goes on about how Cornas used to be as hard, and as rusty, as nails). Except that, young and tannic as this is, the fruit is still so succulent, supple and balanced, that great pleasure, if not complexity just yet, is to be found therein.

280 NIS.

For contrast, here are some of the less costly wines. They do prove, with almost ridiculous ease, what a fine producer this is.

Saint Joseph, Les Cotes, 2014

This is a gorgeous, young Syrah, unencumbered by overt oak or over extraction, capturing the floral, joyous aspect of the grape, as well as the black pepper and savory tannins that lovers of the northern Rhone always look for. At the same time, there is a vaguely serious mood at play here, as though it is being served at a picnic under a cloudy sky. (Apr. 3, 2016)

135 NIS.

Cornas, Granit 30, 2014

Right - so this is the wine I meant to open in the first place and it comes from younger vines, of course, with "only" a 30 degree incline (all things are relative, of course, the Granit 60 hails from vines planted on a 60 degree incline - believe me, 30 degrees in itself is a killer). The fruit here is more upfront, plumper, yet it, too, is adorned by black pepper and rust, and perhaps a hint of bacon. Very approachable at this point, and movingly pure. (Apr. 16, 2016)

199 NIS.

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