Winemaker Notes
The name of this wine, "Granit 30," references the gradient slope of the vineyard.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from mid-slope vines and mostly destemmed, the 2024 Cornas Granit 30 offers juicy blue fruits, peppery herbs, graphite, and exotic floral and blood orange nuances on the nose. It's medium-bodied and has a focused, elegant mouthfeel, plenty of tannins, good mid-palate depth, and outstanding length. It's beautifully done and will clearly be an outstanding Cornas that should appeal to both traditionalists as well as those who like texture and richness.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Vinous
The 2024 Cornas Granit 30 starts out showing enticing orange blossom, dried violets, spot-ripe black cherry and glimmers of raspberry. Medium-bodied and genuinely polished, the 2024 is showing well in these early days, expressing vivid freshness across the board, resolved smooth and refined.
Barrel Sample: 90-92
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Distinguished as a fine Syrah producing zone since the 18th century, Cornas, like Cote Rotie, is made up of vineyards covering steep and hard-to-work, granite terraces. As a result the region’s wines fell out of favor during the mid 20th century when the global market was more focused on bulk wines and vineyards that yielded high quantities. It wasn’t until the 1980s when a group of energetic young winemakers reestablished the integrity of these precipitous terraces and also began making an ultra-modern style of Syrah. The new style didn’t need a decade before it was drinkable and could reach the consumer faster than the region’s traditional wines. Given the new quality coming out of the zone, its popularity once again soared and today a good Cornas can easily challenge many of those from Hermitage. Characteristics of Syrah from Cornas include teeth-staining flavors of blackberry jam, plum, pepper, violets, smoked game, charcoal, chalk dust and smoke.