December 31, 2022 - Been a while since I've tasted a bottle of this. Admittedly a very weird time to open a 2015, but I figured a check-in was warranted. Somewhat mute nose, with a slight meat/smoke tone and a moderate olive note. Plenty of solar fruit, but not as expressive as I remember this wine being originally. On the palate, this is slightly closed and doesn't show much flashiness. As expected, in an awkward place right now. More valuable to hold than to drink now.
December 11, 2022 - A beautiful bottle of Cornas. After a couple of hours decant, more elegant & more approachable than I was fearing - given the vintage & appellation. Deep & pure dark fruits, with a a subtle but lovely violet note. Powerful, as one would expect from a 2015 Cornas, but with plenty of freshness / lift so it doesn't come across as at all heavy.
Although very enjoyable now (went perfectly with a Yogurtlu Lamb Shish), there is a clear sense that this is holding back some of its pleasures ('The sun rises in the East' etc...). Would love to drink another bottle at 15 years from the vintage. IMHO worth holding for a few more years, but not infanticide to open now. My first encounter with Franck's wines. 93 +
December 14, 2020 - Opened for 3 hours. Dark ruby red with quite a bit of purple. On the nose: Violets, cassis, plum, pepper and dark chocolate. On the palate: Cassis, cherry, violets , lavender, pepper and iron. This is very young and has potential to be very good. The the pepper really lingers a long time. Needs a bit more time to better integrate and open up. It’s a bit closed otherwise I would have scored even higher.
December 23, 2019 - Lovely black-purple in the glass. This is too young still and rather closed on the nose but there is pretty fruit, good structure and depth. Elegant tannins. Needs 4-5 years.
December 21, 2019 - Decanted for an hour. Typical of the vintage, fairly warm and large scaled, even for Balthazar. I liked the smoothness and ‘Allemand’ texture on the palate but the nose wasn’t giving. Needs 5+ years. Love the 2016.
October 5, 2019 - Blind N. Rhones: Powerful and rich. Pepper and olive is there. This is a vintage that needs time. Not as expressive or interesting as bottles tasted on release. Upside from here.
September 2, 2019 - A deeply pitched Syrah of ripe dark fruits, but so much plant matter nuance. It is inky, cerebral, savoury and layered. There's some black olive tapenade, violets, blood plum and tar. It has great depth and proportioned and is not forced in any way. There's no artifice, just pure Syrah joy.
March 19, 2019 - Tasted side by side with the '15 Paris Geynale - this wine seems more like young Cornas to me. Dark berries, great spine of acidity here and lots of grippy tannins - savory grilled meat notes and some florals lurk in the background. This is going to need quite a bit of time to come around - but great structure - hold
March 19, 2019 - Revenge of the Cornas (Michaeangelo Hotel): Again this is a really lovely wine. Here more purple flowers (I get violets although others were getting lavender). Lots of dark fruits. Just this touch of sweet but in that perfectly ripe and not over ripe way. There are still the more drying tannin, but it is a very young wine. Quite enjoyable though.
March 9, 2019 - Drank with Wilson one late evening.
Crazy delicious Cornas. Full display of brooding notes and aromatics, yet incredibly restrained in youth. So tannic that after about a glass, the wine couldn’t be enjoyed like it was earlier.
This will be an absolute killer wine down the line (aka at least a decade or two). Problem is— the wait time will be ridiculous for a wine of this level.