2009 Cornas Chaillot

"The mark of 2010 is freshness plus finesse," according to Franck Balthazar. "The fruit got just about as ripe as in 2009 but we were able to harvest later so it was possible to get more complexity as the sugars didn't reach their maturity levels until almost three weeks after they got there in 2009." Balthazar suggests that the 2010s will probably be approachable at almost every stage of what he speculates will be a long life, "while the 2009s are already beginning to show their structure and tannins. They're starting to shut down and will be difficult to understand for at least a few years after that so it will be a mistake to drink them young."

According to Franck Balthazar, "What makes 2009 such a special vintage is the fact that the wines are rich and concentrated but still very fresh." He believes they will be appealing on release and doesn't foresee the wines ever really shutting down "as they do in most powerful years." Balthazar is another Cornas producer who is convinced that the 2008s "will be punished for the sins of their relatives even though the wines from the southern part of the northern Rhone have good depth and complexity, without dilution or too-high acidity, which is the stereotype." That's especially the case for Cornas, he added: "Since it's warmer here than anywhere else in the north, our vines are mostly south-facing, and there are more old vines in Cornas than in any appellation of the north."