2012 Cornas Chaillot

Wine Details
Place of Origin

France

Cornas

Rhone

Color

Red

Grape/Blend

Syrah/Shiraz

Reviews & Tasting Notes

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Drinking Window

2017 - 2028

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Yields here were pitifully low in 2013, Franck Balthazar told me, noting that his vines gave him less than 19 hectoliters per hectare because of "bad flowering" and the usual paucity of fruit that his old vines provide. He began harvesting during the first week of October, which gave him fully mature fruit "with good complexity and surprising acidity and minerality, which contribute to the wines' freshness." While he thinks that the wines are balanced to age, he also believes that it would be best to err on the side of youth "so that they can be enjoyed for their vivacity and fruit." Balthazar is quite pleased with his 2012s "because they're very perfumed and approachable but are balanced to age, if you wish." He thinks that they will outlive the 2013s fairly easily and that they possess greater depth of flavor and power and are thus "more classically Cornas" than their younger siblings, and this is in spite of what he called "a generous harvest" of around 30 hectoliters per hectare, a gift from nature that he'll happily take. Sadly, for me at least, Balthazar has moved his operation out of his tiny, ancient cellar underneath the town church and into a new and far more spacious cellar and chai on the east side of town near the railroad tracks and behind his home. It makes work a lot easier and the old space "was just becoming impractical," but he agreed that the original cellar had a distinct character that's hard to find anymore.

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"Wines of expressive fruit and hidden structure" is the way Franck Balthazar described the 2012s to me as we tasted through the handful of used demi-muids in which the new vintage was resting in his tiny cellar.He expressed a fondness for the 2011s "because the wines are really easy to drink already, as 2008, 2007 and 2006 were at the same stage, but the fruit has more energy than in those years."Balthazar's elegant Cornas bottlings are among the very best being made in the appellation right now, and their keen pricing makes them great values, especially for fans of classic northern Rhone wines.Balthazar vinifies entirely with whole clusters, and his vineyards are planted entirely to serine so the wines have a lot in common with those of Thierry Allemand, who has told me numerous times that he's a big fan of Balthazar's work and wines.

Importer Details
The Rare Wine Co.

Imports to: United States

Address: 280 Valley Drive, Brisbane, CA 94005

Phone: (415) 319-9000

Email: sales@rarewineco.com

Website: rarewineco.com