Community Tasting Notes 12

• astroman Likes this wine: 93 points

  March 4, 2024 - Dinner with Franck Balthazar (Skai): From a magnum, lovely elegant aromas with sandy tannins. Lovely precision.

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• melvinyeowq wrote: 91 points

  March 4, 2024 - Chaillots vertical with Franck Balthazar: More expressive than the 2016 from the get-go with overt olive notes and blue fruit. Fans of more fruit-forward wines liked this more than I did, too primary for me at this stage as I preferred the redder fruit of older vintages.

  2 people found this helpful Comment

• Zweder wrote: 93 points

  November 15, 2022 - In the bouquet firm dark berries, a bit rustic, some pepper and some metal. On the palate ripe and sweet dark berries, red berries, firm and good acidity, herbs, some brown spiced biscuit, well balanced and good tannin.

  2 people found this helpful Comment

• Brian of Mull Likes this wine: 94 points

  May 24, 2022 - Coming back to this. Opened for 3 hours. Color is massive deep/dark/opaque garnet/purple. On the nose: I am not getting much as I have a cold so will skip and do again when I don’t have a cold. On the palate: Rich Cassis, violets, lavender , pepper and beef blood. Even with the remnants of a cold the flavor powers through. This is fantastic Cornas. I think it should score higher than what I’ve done here.

  Comment

• forceberry wrote: 91 points

  September 28, 2021 - The old-vine bottling of Franck Balthazar, the grapes sourced from the revered Chaillot vineyard, approximately half of which come from a parcel planted in 1914 and previously owned by Verset. The grapes are fermented spontaneously in concrete vats, after which the wine is aged for 18 months in old 600-liter demi-muids. Bottled unfined, unfiltered and with a tiny addition of sulfites. 13,5% alcohol.
  
  Deep, luminous and slightly translucent black cherry color. Somewhat restrained and very slightly reductive nose with nuanced aromas of sweet blackberries, some concentrated plummy tones, a little bit of savory meat, light floral notes of violets, a hint of crushed peppercorns and a touch of smoky reduction. The wine is dense, concentrated and chewy on the palate with a full body and quite dry and somewhat closed flavors of fresh, brambly blackberries, some savory meaty tones, a little bit of stony minerality, light inky notes, a tart hint of fresh dark plums or damsons and a touch of peppery spice. Overall the wine feels quite succulent, but at the same time not that expressive, coming across as a bit closed and restrained. The rather high acidity and textural, moderately grippy tannins make the wine feel pretty stern and quite muscular. The finish is savory, juicy and moderately grippy with long, dry flavors of fresh blackberries and tart dark plums, some stony mineral tones, a little bit of gamey meat, light crunchy notes of blueberries, a hint of crushed peppercorns and a touch of smoky reduction.
  
  A very stern, quite muscular and somewhat closed powerhouse of a wine - although not a big blockbuster by any means. The wine shows great sense of freshness and purity, never coming across as particularly ripe or sweetly-fruited despite the solar vintage. However, the wine is undeniably quite tightly-knit and closed at the moment, not showing the exuberance and expressive fruit of the 2017 Sans Soufre bottling. Instead the wine comes across as similarly brooding as restrained as the 2017 Casimir bottling, only showing more sense of power, concentration and structure. There's a tiny bit of reduction that seems to blow off as the wine aerates, but the fruit never really comes to the fore. Overall this feels like a vintage that needs another 10-15 years before it really starts to show. Quite impressive now, but won't offer much of its full potential anytime soon. Might feel a bit pricey for the quality at 49€, but I expect things to change as the wine evolves and opens up with age.

  3 people found this helpful Comment

Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2017
• Type Red
• Producer Franck Balthazar
• Varietal Syrah
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Chaillot
• Country France
• Region Rhône
• SubRegion Northern Rhône
• Appellation Cornas
• UPC Codes 400002941996, 8580960807991

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 6 (1%)
• In Cellars 684 (80%)
• Consumed 162 (19%)

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