2020 Cornas "Sans Soufre Ajouté," "Cuvée Casimir" and 2021 Saint-Peray from Franck Balthazar!

We're happy to offer the very elegant, natural and terroir-expressive wines of Franck Balthazar in Cornas from this excellent vintage in the Northern Rhône. Balthazar is one of a small group of producers in Cornas practicing organic farming, whole-cluster fermentations and aging in used barrels, incuding growers such as Thierry Allemand and  Domaine Lionnet along with Jean and Pierre Gonon, six or seven miles to the north in Saint-Joseph. Says drinkrhone.com "An STGT domaine (soil to glass transfer!). The wines express their place faithfully with tender winemaking in support.  This is a classic example of Cornas that carries clear fruit and early tannins requiring 3-4 years to settle." We also appreciate that Franck vinifies and bottles with minimal use of sulfur, giving the wines outstanding purity and aromatic complexity. These are superb Northern Rhone Syrahs, traditionally made but in a natural style, free of excess sulfur and new oak - they are delicious young but will cellar beautifully as well - ten plus years for the "Sans Soufre," fifteen+ years for "Casimir." (We're sorry but there was not enough "Chaillot" available to include in this offer.)

2020 in Cornas - words of wisdom from John Livingstone-Learmonth at drinkrhone: "The 2020 Cornas are, in the words of Guillaume Gilles, “tender, soft, offer gourmandise.” The wines are not nearly as deep and brooding as the 2019s, with Franck Balthazar calling 2020 “a pre-hot climate year, with more finesse, but still at 13.5°"

"Franck pointed out that the 2020 leant towards a classic – ie less heady - vintage, reporting: “2020 was hot, but didn’t hit the extremes of 2019. It’s less corpulent than 2019. Historically, it’s more classic Northern Rhône than recent years, a year of purity, definition. April to June was very hot. There was a 10 minute sudden storm in August, that gave 20 mm (0.8 in) in a rush. We started the harvest with Chaillot on 26 August, the low zones on 1 September, the high areas on 4 September.” Since 2012, Franck has also made a zero added sulphur wine called SANS SOUFRE AJOUTÉ, Syrah from La Lègre and Les Côtes, average age around 15 years. He explains his approach for this roughly 2,000 bottle wine: “the zero added SO2 Cornas demands a lot of hygiene, and serious behaviour – 80% of zero added SO2 wines aren’t right. It’s a wine with a lot of fruit which otherwise would be cut by the sulphites. The first 24 hours the wine is protected by carbonic gas. A rapid fermentation is needed – if there are delays, there is a risk of bacteria. Its handling is all done by gravity.”

2021 Saint-Péray! We love a good Saint-Péray and it sounds like Franck has nailed it in 2021 - 100% Roussanne on south-facing decomposed granite soils at 350 metres on Clarençon, malo done. "This is charming, floral Saint-Péray, a great aperitif" says drinkrhone. Only 2,000 bottles made.

And we love the 2019 Cornas "Terre Brulée from Domaine Lionnet - as mentioned above this very tradional Cornas of terroir comes from organic farming, is fermented with whole-clusters and is aged in used barrels - "The palate combines Cornas terroir feel, powdered tannins with grip, with a rocky fusion of dark berry fruit, is highly authentic...big marks for character here" says drinkrhone. A few of these belong in your cellar...

Net priced, April 4th arrival. All wines are from the official NY importers.