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Tasting Notes
Medium plus bodied with ample structure, there is a notable balance of restraint and concentration. The blackberry and red cherry fruit has a slight herbal and floral tinge, but the more apparent smokey minerals and black pepper are what shine through in the finish.
Body is the impression of a wines weight, density, or its ‘mouth-feel’. Some wines feel weighty, or full bodied, while others feel light bodied. Wine runs the gamut from light to full, with most falling somewhere in between.
TANNIN
Low
Subtle
Balanced
Pronounced
High
Tannin can range greatly in wine, but it is necessary to some degree, and a necessary constituent for red wines to age well. In high amounts, it can cause a drying affect, which is sensed mostly on the gums and tongue. Tannin is a natural preservative extracted from grape skins, otherwise known as polyphenols that are micronutrients and antioxidants with potential health benefits.
ACIDITY
Soft
Subtle
Balanced
Pronounced
High
Acidity is a foundational component in wine. In fact, low acidity, or ‘flabby’ wine (as the term suggests) is a negative. You can sense acidity mainly on the sides of your tongue. Acidity generally ranges from balanced to high. Crisp acidity adds freshness, making your mouth water. Acidity is a necessary element and helps to balance other components.
SWEETNESS
Dry
Off Dry
Medium Dry
Medium Sweet
Very Sweet
Most wines are characterized as dry to off-dry, but there are some grape varietals, like Riesling, that run the gamut from dry to sweet. The tip of the tongue mainly detects sweetness, which is why it is often the primary characteristic detected. Sweetness is derived from residual sugar that did not ferment into alcohol.
ALCOHOL
13.5%
Alcohol is the by-product of fermentation. Differing grape varieties have differing potential alcohol levels, but regardless warmer areas result in riper grapes resulting in higher alcohol. Alcohol level is an objective number, but its affect on its palate impression is largely determined with how well integrated and balanced it is with other components.
Entry level cuvée from a benchmark producer in Cornas.
GRAPE VARIETAL(S)
Syrah
100%See-RA
Syrah is widely planted throughout the world, but that was not so until the late twentieth century when Syrah was principally grown in the Rhone Valley and, as Shiraz, in Australia. Stylistically, the Palate Character of Syrah can vary depending on ripeness from a rich Round & Fleshy, Tone & Backbone, to a Powerful & Extracted. The flavors and aromas can also vary with a dark, sometimes sweet, fruit character, varying amount of spice, floral, and earth, and smoke, and meaty aromas and flavors.
Franck Balthazar left an engineering career in 2002 to return to Cornas to take up the traditional farming and winemaking methods of his father René. Today, Balthazar is among an elite group of traditional winemakers who have helped establish Cornas as a sought-after region in the Northern Rhône.
The Balthazar estate was started by Franck’s grandfather, Casimir. René took over in 1950 and started limited domaine bottling in the 1970s. Before then, most wines in Cornas were sold in bulk. Working by hand and horse-drawn plow, Franck Balthazar farms steep granite-terraced hillsides that have old vines of a local clone, "le petit syrah.”
The wines are vinified whole-cluster with a natural yeast fermentation before being aged in large-oak casks. They are powerful yet nuanced with dark fruit, spice, and minerality that unfold in layers.
Blackberry
Smoke
Black Pepper
Organic
