2015 Franck Balthazar Cornas Sans Soufre Ajouté

Community Tasting Notes (16) Avg Score: 90.3 points

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  5/28/2022 - gbejjani Likes this wine: 92 Points

  All natural, wild yeasts, whole clusters, neutral wood, gravity handled, absolutely no SO2. Pure and vivacious expression of these younger Syrah vines, with perfect acidity. It's a wine that's looking to engage and proclaims "I'm made of grapes!". Very well done.
  
  For more please watch below on YT channel Pandewine
  
  https://youtu.be/3rcWGDWLxjM

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  3/16/2022 - jnewman77 wrote:

  I have enjoyed Balthazar's Chaillot in the past; drank this young because without sulfur I'm a bit nervous to age them too long, but this certainly had no flaws and was quite young. The nose initially seemed to have a patina of oak which seemed odd; vanilla and spice; with air this faded and there was pure ripe fruits, floral notes, and a hint of minerality. The palate was full bodied and had structure, but overall seemed lacking a bit of energy. I didn't get much Cornas signature in this; didn't have any of the game/smoke/earth that I love and lacked some acidity. I'll hold my other bottle a couple more years and see how it changes.

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  11/6/2021 - forceberry wrote: 92 Points

  The young-vine bottling of Franck Balthazar, the grapes sourced mainly from approximately 10-yo vines in La Légre and Les Côtes vineyards. Vinified entirely without SO2, from the fermentation to the bottling. The grapes are fermented spontaneously in whole clusters and the wine is aged for 12-18 months in old 600-liter demi-muids. Bottled unfined, unfiltered and without any sulfites. 13% alcohol.
  
  Dense, fully opaque and slightly inky blackish-red color. Clean, savory and quite crunchy nose with intense aromas of fresh blackberries and brambly black raspberries, some bacon, a little bit of dusty earth, light sweet notes of volatile lift, a hint of game and a touch of something vaguely sauvage without making the wine appear funky. The wine is ripe, clean and quite densely textured on the palate with a medium body and focused flavors of brambly blackberries, savory meaty tones, some tangy saline notes, a little bit of fresh blueberry, light tart nuances of red forest fruits, a hint of peppery spice and a faint acetic touch of balsamic VA. The overall feel is quite firm and sinewy, thanks to the high acidity and moderately grippy tannins. The finish is lively and crunchy with moderate tannic grip and lengthy flavors of fresh red berries and brambly blackberries, some ferrous notes of blood and game, light tart and slightly bitter notes of chokeberries and lingonberries, a hint of earth and an acetic touch of balsamic VA.
  
  A firm, quite muscular and surprisingly fresh effort for a Cornas from the quite solar 2015 vintage. The wine shows wonderful sense of purity, freshness and intensity of flavor, never once coming across as funky or weird despite the complete lack of sulfite additions. Probably the only sign that points out to the no-sulfite regime is the subtly yet somewhat noticeably elevated level of acetic VA, which I haven't noticed in other Balthazar Cornas wines (although the 2018 Balthazar Crozes-Hermitage we had at the same tasting did show similarly subtle streak of acetic VA, now when I think of it). All the same, the wine is still firm, very youthful and quite tightly-knit, showing great sense of future development - most likely this wine will benefit from another 4-7 years of aging and will keep just fine for years more. A delightful and very promising effort.

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  12/26/2020 - gzim Does not like this wine: 85 Points

  Double Decanted - strange super grapey nose.. left to air for almost 2 hours, did not improve much.
  A bit disjointed - a tad horsey, and ...... hoping it improves with age

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  6/1/2020 - camben wrote:

  Whhheeee
  This is fun
  Reminds me of why I love wine
  Lasted 4 days under cork
  Elegant, awesome nose, tickling tannins
  I’d love to age these but hard to lay off

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