Winemaker Notes
Vincent's top wine from this historic site is dark and complex with endless layers.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Smoky and meaty, with intense wild herb character, this is classic Cornas, but with modern purity and precision. Giant concentration and brilliance on the very compact and still tightly wound, medium- to full-bodied palate. Extremely fine tannins. Even at this very early stage in the wine's life, the finish has tremendous spiciness. From a single parcel of 50-year-old vines.
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Decanter
Beautiful nose, very lifted, with violets, black olive, blackberry and cassis. Has a good sense of fullness and ripeness on the palate – it's full, powerful, fresh and driving with a good, robust tannic frame and a long finish. It's not as massive as some years, but very well balanced. A Cornas with lovely finesse of fruit and enjoyably robust tannins. It doesn't have the concentration of the more powerful years, but it's still very good, and true to place. 100% whole bunches, no new oak.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Cornas La Geynale is clearly a standout. Rocking levels of ripe red, blue, and black fruits, peppery herbs, violet, game, and rare meat-like aromatics all shine here, and it's full-bodied on the palate, with ripe tannins, the classic, wild, sauvage character of the appellation, and a great finish. Barrel Sample: 94-96+
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Vinous
The seductive, intricate perfume of the 2023 Cornas La Geynale suggests that what comes next will be a total delight. Hauntingly floral, the 2023 showcases prominent rose water, violet and orange blossom mixed with raspberry compote, licorice and a touch of graphite. Full-bodied, powerful and deep, the 2023 simply says. Barrel Sample: 93-95
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Wine Spectator
Theres a meaty, smoky, peppery edge to this salty, powerhouse Cornas. Massive in scale yet achieves perfect harmony between its ripeness, texture and energy. Juniper, black pepper, grilled garrigue and apple wood smoke play out over the persistent finish, held in check by fine-yet-muscular tannins and firming spine of iron. Excellent.
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.