2021 Cornas from Frank Balthazar!
11/3/2023
We're happy to offer the very elegant, natural and terroir-expressive wines of Franck Balthazar in Cornas from this somewhat lighter, very terroir expressive 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 or zero 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," twenty-plus years for Chaillot.
Included in today's offer are tiny quantities of Franck's new cuvée "Juliette" and the very special "Hommage" - a tribute to Franck's father and grandfather.
2021 - "The adjective “complicated” applied to CORNAS in 2021, but the end result has been good, even very good, with a collection of wines that will interest and reward drinkers over the next couple of decades at least. Thierry Allemand is never a fan of the large scale, solar vintages, so gave this enthusiastic comment: '2021 we adore... like in the old days.' 2021 ranks a good vintage to buy Cornas in my view. The wines are fluid more than thickset, and will show well earlier than in mighty years such as 2019. There are occasional issues of looseness and volatile acidity, so it’s not picture perfect, but selecting a wine from a noble site above and near the village – Chaillot springs to mind – will be rewarding. - drinkrhone
Rain and cooler weather, and problems with mildew made things difficult for the growers, however, and readers should note that these wines are not in the style of 2018 - 2020. (2022s will be interesting as the heat blocked maturities, eventually producing very ripe wines, but with moderate alcohol.)
-David Lillie
