Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 30 2020
Cornas
Regular price $49.99
Granit 30 2020 93VM/95JD
Vincent Paris
Cornas, Northern Rhone
$44.99 3+ bottles
$49.99 reg
93 pts Vinous
93-95 points Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with what could be considered the entry level cuvée, the 2020 Cornas Granit 30 comes from further down the slope, from vines closer to the village. That's obviously not a bad thing, since this plump, full-bodied, beautifully textured Cornas has remarkable purity and elegance as well as richness. Blackberries, blueberries, subtle smoke, graphite, and violets all emerge from the glass, and it has a seamless, incredibly elegant texture.
Vineyard: Cuvée Granit 30 is made up of two east facing parcels of young vines planted by Paris on the lower slope of lieu-dit Les Mazards. Together the parcels make up 3 hectares of vines which vary in age and rise up to 300 meters of elevation.
Soil: Granite with a bit of clay, gravel, and limestone
Viticulture: Paris farms organically incorporating many biodynamic principles. All vineyard work and harvesting is does manually. In order to concentrate the vines growing power, Paris prunes to only four bunches of grapes per vine and removes many of the bunch's surrounding leafs to allow for protection again disease. The vines yield approximately 30 hectoliters per hectare.
Winemaking: A combination of partial destemming and whole cluster. Paris uses a combination of stainless steel vat and barrel. Only native yeast is used in the fermentation process and no new wood is ever incorporated. No fining or filtration.
Aging: Aged for 12 months in a combination of neutral French oak barrique and demi-muid.
Growing up in Cornas, Vincent Paris began his passion for wine at a very young age under the mentorship of his uncle Robert Michel who retired in 2006 (Robert Michel, one of Cornas' finest growers also employed and mentored Thierry Allemand). After inheriting most of his vines from his grandfather, many of which are around 90 years old, Paris began producing wine in 1997 in a small garage before moving to his current facility in 2001. The domaine is comprise of only 8 hectares; 6.5 hectares in Cornas and 1.5 hectares in St. Joseph. Paris also farms around 9 hectares of vines in Crozes-Hermitage which make up his “Vincent Paris Selections” label. As Cornas is an appellation planted to only 120 hectares of vines, it is safe to say that Paris holds a competitive advantage.
Vincent Paris' first vintage was 1997, is as shy as his wines are bold. Now in his early 40's, he has retro sideburns, but not much else about this appellation's established star is "retro". He made his two first wines with his uncle and then, seeking autonomy, went out on his own and has not looked back!