Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The most meaty, structured and peppery of the 2014s, the 2014 Cornas la Geynale comes from two superb parcels: La Geynale and Reynard. Fermented with 100% whole clusters and aged the standard 18 months in older barrels (two- to eight-year-old-barrels), it offers lots of savory herbs, pepper, smoked earth and meaty dark fruits to go with a medium to full-bodied, layered, textured and age-worthy feel on the palate. It’s easily the most structured and tannic of the 2014s, will benefit from short term cellaring and keep for 10-15 years. 91-94 points
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Wine Spectator
A vibrant, fresh style, with a pure beam of cassis and bitter cherry fruit lined with mouthwatering white pepper and chalk notes. Shows a long violet echo on the finish. Built on purity, this should age gracefully. Drink now through 2026. 300 cases made.
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.