2015 Franck Balthazar Cotes du Rhone 750 ml

The Keeper of the Cornas Flame

Franck Balthazar is as old school as they come. Born and raised in the village of Cornas, his family tree is rooted in the deep, rugged history of the Northern Rhône Valley. His father René worked his entire life tending the vines of the rough, crumbled-granite Cornas vineyards, as did his grandfather, Casimir, who created the domaine in 1931. Back then, the domaine sold the wines in barrel to the local cafes and had a reputation for making some of the finest wines of the village, along with Auguste Clape, Noël Verset, and Marcel Juge.    

Cornas is the southernmost appellation of the Northern Rhône. The village is blessed with steep, vertigo-inducing granite slopes and over 2,000 sunshine hours per year, quite similar to the better-known Hermitage to the north. In the rocky soil, the Syrah vines struggle to survive and find water, so the yields from the vines are always minuscule. Cornas is Darwinism in action — the grapes that come to full maturation in the vineyards have struggled fiercely to get to that point and the end result is a soulful but rough-hewn black/purple wine that couldn’t come from anywhere else in the world.

Franck Balthazar has become known for making the finest examples of Cornas available in the market today.  He’s a one-man show. He works organically in the vineyards and in the cellar and his only part-time employee is his horse, Festin, who helps plow the vineyards.

You’ll find his wines on the wine lists at nearly all of the top restaurants in New York, a veritable “roll call” of the city’s top eateries: Daniel, NoMad, Eleven Madison Park, Craft, Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, etc.  Antonio Galloni’s Vinous has also heaped plenty of praise on Franck, saying he “has emerged as one of the most consistently top-notch winemakers not just in Cornas, but in the entire Rhône Valley.” We couldn’t agree more.

The 2015 Côtes-du-Rhône is what many wine cognoscenti are calling “baby Cornas.” The old-vine Syrah for the Côtes-du-Rhône bottling is sourced from sites surrounding Cornas as well as the high-elevation, cool-climate vineyards of Vinsobres to the south. It is made with the exact same high standards and soulful savoir faire that has made Franck Balthazar the most trusted name in the Rhône Valley today.

The grapes were grown in the perfect golden sunlight of 2015, a growing season that Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate says yielded vintage quality that is “incredibly high across all of the appellations.” Many compare it to the LEGENDARY 1961, with Wine Spectator scoring the 2015 vintage a stunning 96-99.

The 2015 Côtes-du-Rhône is the perfect calling card for the wines of Franck Balthazar. The difference is instead of shelling out a cool C-note for his singular, pure-purple bottlings of Cornas — you’re paying $20.99 for a 100% Syrah wine that is made with the exact same high standards and soulful savoir faire. Given the chewy density and vibrant concentration, this is a STEAL.  Sadly, we could only fight off the NYC Michelin-starred long enough to secure 45 cases. Shipping included on 6. Today only, the perfect opportunity to taste wines from one of the greatest old-school growers in the world.