March 19, 2025
Top Single Vineyard Cornas from Vincent Paris - Northern Rhone
Vincent Paris Cornas Le Geynale 2022
We're lucky enough to be able to offer a small allocation on Vincent Paris' amazing 2022 Cornas Le Geynale which year on year is one the best in the appellation. Cornas stands as a bit of a hidden gem for fine wine lovers being a pure 100% Syrah from Northern Rhone but at a fraction of the price of Cote-Rotie and Hermitage.
Vincent Paris is a top Cornas winemaker, known for crafting powerful yet refined Syrah from steep granite slopes. A protégé of his uncle Robert Michel, he inherited the century-old La Geynale vineyard and founded his domaine in 1997. Blending tradition with finesse, he now ranks among the Rhône’s finest, producing age-worthy wines that rival Clape and Allemand.
Vincent Paris’ La Geynale is the jewel of his Cornas portfolio, a wine that perfectly captures the raw power and elegance of the appellation. Sourced from a single parcel of century-old vines planted in 1910, this cuvée is named after the La Geynale lieux-dit, one of Cornas’ most prized sites. The steep, sun-drenched terraces sit on pure granite soils, providing the ideal conditions for producing deeply concentrated, age-worthy 100% Syrah.
What sets La Geynale apart is its old-vine intensity and distinctive expression of terroir. These ancient vines yield low quantities of small, thick-skinned berries, resulting in a wine of remarkable depth, minerality, and structure. Fermentation takes place with 100% whole clusters, a traditional technique that enhances aromatic complexity, savoury spice, and fine-grained tannins. The wine is then aged in neutral oak barrels, allowing the purity of the fruit and the signature granite-driven energy of Cornas to shine through.
La Geynale is a Cornas of incredible balance, delivering an impressive combination of black fruit, pepper, smoked meat, and floral notes, with a firm yet refined structure that rewards long-term ageing. Year after year, it stands among the appellation’s top wines, rivaling Cornas icons like Clape and Allemand but at a fraction of the price.
This week we have a small parcel available at a sharp price of €39.50 IB per bottle. Grab them whilst you can!
Vincent Paris continues to craft distinctive, ageworthy Cornas, as evidenced once again during my most recent visit. Now in bottle, the 2022s are brimming with concentration, complexity and structure, requiring extended time in the cellar to fully reveal their potential. […] the 2022s are dark, brooding and dense” - Nicolas Greinacher, Vinous
Vincent Paris Cornas La Geynale 2022
€39.50* In Bond per bottle
98 Points | James Suckling, Stuart Pigott
Very complex nose of smoke and forest berry fruit with a touch of grilled meat. Extremely dense with enormous fine tannins, but still so bright and energetic. Major concentration at the extremely long, velvety finish, where you feel the wildness that's the signature of this appellation. From a single parcel of 50-year-old vines. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.
94-96 Points | Jeb Dunnuck
Lastly, and from the oldest vines in the Reynard and La Génale lieux-dits, the 2022 Cornas La Geynale is not destemmed and spent 16 months in used barrels. It’s on another level and brings a locked and loaded profile delivering tons of gorgeous, bloody blue fruits, roasted herbs, cured meats, and floral, peppery nuances. With medium to full-bodied richness as well as a stacked mid-palate and building tannins, this beauty will need 4-5 years of bottle age yet should evolve for two decades. Bravo.
95 Points | Decanter, Matt Walls
Has good weight of fruit, though no huge concentration like in other vintages. Ends on quite firm tannins, but they have a certain suppleness compared to the harsher green tannins elsewhere in Cornas this year. Classic style, with grip and presence that should age with interest, though will always be one for fans of a more ascetic Cornas style. Whole-bunch fermented, from 100-year-old vines grown in Reynard. Aged in used barrels, no new oak. 4,000 bottles made.
94 Points | Vinous, Nicolas Greinacher
The 2022 Cornas La Geynale impresses with pronounced aromas of crushed violet, orange rind, black cherry, graphite, dried meat, blackberry jam, roasted herbs and a flicker of leather. Full-bodied and deeply concentrated, it's powerfully structured like a skyscraper, yet infused with lifting energy that balances its sheer intensity. Gracefully winding down with a long, savory finish, the 2022 La Geynale is a bold and serious rendition of this legendary Cornas.
*Prices are accurate as of the blog publication date and may be subject to change.