2017 Franck Balthazar Cornas Sans Soufre Ajouté

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 91.5 points

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  4/7/2022 - Brian of Mull Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Opened 2 hours. Color is almost purple. On the nose: Pepper, cassis, violets and iron/blood. On the palate: Cassis, violets, loads of pepper, beef blood and blackberries. Flavors are rich , deep and long. Wine is big but sensuous. This is magnificent and only 13% alcohol. Great QPR.

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  2/16/2022 - SimonG wrote: 91 Points

  More purple than ruby. Dark red to black fruit on the nose, some pepper too. Dark fruit on the attack, but surprisingly giving, plush velvet in texture. Powdery fine tannins, good acidity and a persistent core of dark fruit. Lovely. Far more friendly than some 2016 St Josephs last week. I’m not really getting Cornas, but it’s a lovely northern Rhone Syrah. ****

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  9/28/2021 - forceberry wrote: 93 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. 13,5% alcohol.
  
  Deep, dark and almost fully opaque blackish red color with a youthful blueish core. Clean, open and ever so slightly reductive nose with fragrant aromas of peppery spice, ferrous notes of sanguine meat, some inky tones, a little bit of fresh, brambly blackberry, light floral notes of violets and a gravelly mineral hint of sun-baked rocks. The wine is dry, dense and moderately full-bodied on the palate with firm yet quite open-knit flavors of juicy blackberries, some peppery spice, a little bit of tart chokeberry, light inky tones, a sweeter hint of ripe red cherries and a touch of seared meat. The overall feel is quite structured, thanks to the high acidity and quite grippy, ample tannins, yet the wine isn't too stern or aggressive, thanks to the vibrant fruit that serves a great counterpoint to the structure. The long finish is clean and vibrant with pure flavors of ripe blackberries, some peppery spice, light meaty notes of umami, a little bit of gravelly minerality, hints of ripe boysenberries and cherries and a faint smoky touch of reduction.
  
  A very sophisticated, balanced and eminently juicy Cornas that is still so very young, but - thanks to its very up-front fruit and open-knit texture - still drinking very well already now (unlike 2017 Casimir and 2017 Chaillot that were tasted alongside this wine). Usually these no-SO2 wines can be quite funky and not really built for aging, but this wine is clean as a whistle and despite being open for business right from the get-go, seems to hold much promise for future development. A lovely wine that can be kept for years more, but if the situation calls, can also work as a cellar defender and be popped open while the Chaillots continue to age.

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  1/18/2021 - jgreco Likes this wine: 90 Points

  2017 Franck Balthazar Cornas features dark fruits, smoke, game meat. Fine grained tannins. Enjoyable, class Cornas, but nothing special.

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  5/29/2020 - retired_and_roving Likes this wine:

  Wine in the time of Corona Virus - Quarantining in NYC & NH; 3/7/2020-9/1/2020 (NYC/NH): Second outing with this wine and again it was just delicious! Wow I wish I had purchased more when this was offered. Prices have now gone up quite a bit. Drinking really well now at this young age.

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