I see it as my bounden duty to report on all exciting developments in the appellation of Cornas, having criticised it so roundly a couple of years ago (see wine news of 2002). Thierry Allemand, the Durands and Domaine du Tunnel have already done much to revive my estimation of this small northern Rhone appellation but here's another name to watch.
Last night French food expert Patricia Wells and her husband Walter served us this wine from an exciting newish producer and I was most impressed. There's a Granit 60 and a less expensive Granit 30 bottling from Syrah vines on Cornas's granitic slopes that are, respectively, 30 and 60 years old.
The wine is clearly Cornas with its almost chewable substance and no shortage of classic, dry northern Rhone Syrah sternness and promise of future development but the hand at the tiller is also obviously concerned to deliver modern wine drinkers the round and supple fruit that they demand of wine even as young as four years old. There is perfume and ripe blackberries on the palate here. Go wallow!
We enjoyed this wine from magnum but I should imagine that from bottle it is even more succulent already. There's no sign at all of the fatal dusty dryness that can afflict more traditional bottlings. I was not at all surprised to see the same wine on the Rhone-centric list at Willi's Wine Bar in the rue des Petits Champs, Paris 75001 today.
It's available in Paris from caviste Juan Sanchez of La Derniere Goutte and in New York from PJ Wines at $30.99. We impoverished/mean Brits have to make do, according to winesearcher.com, with the Granit 30 version for about £15 a bottle from Roberts & Speight of Beverley, Yorkshire, but both bottlings of 2001 are widely available in the UK, from about £15 for the Granit 30 from South Downs Cellars of Hurstpierpoint and Berry Bros are offering the 2001 Granit 60 for about £22 a bottle.