2015 Franck Balthazar Cornas Chaillot

Community Tasting Notes (22) Avg Score: 92.3 points

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  12/31/2022 - acyso wrote: 90 Points

  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.

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  12/11/2022 - Guillaume-en-égypte Likes this wine: 93 Points

  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 +

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  12/14/2020 - Brian of Mull Likes this wine: 93 Points

  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.

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  12/23/2019 - LW31 wrote:

  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.

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  12/21/2019 - Ms. Bubblehead wrote:

  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.

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