Franck Balthazar, Cotes du Rhone

Mid to light body, good fruit and balance, overdelivers

2020 vintage

Now 1h after decant. Nice aromas of deep, dark rope blackberries and rope black cherries, violets, and minerals. Palate w ripe black cherries, ripe blackberries, nice minerals, a bit of flowers. Full body w very nice acids, and smooth, moderate+ tannins. Creamy mouthfeel. Nice but but somewhat short finish of dark cherry and blackberry fruit and minerals. I like this but it also tastes very young and holding back all that it has. Good stuffing that's also hidden. I think …

2022 vintage

Til burgers etter ferietur. Litt fersk nese, blåser bor mel litt luft og lavere temperatur. Bjørnebær sødmefull, relativt lys, jordbær. Enkel og god. Utypisk Rhone

2022 vintage

Mørk sortlilla, såvidt transparent. Mørke bær og mørk sjokolade på duft, et svakt vanilje- og urtepreg. Saftig, fyldig og fruktig med et godt bærpreg av bjørnebær og krekling. God struktur, super til grillet hamburger med mye digg, takler nok det meste på grillen. Middels lang smakskurve med en herlig ettersmak av krekling. Godt kjøp til 270 kroner på polet og enda bedre til 200 SEK i Sverige.

2022 vintage

Rating: 3,6/5,0.

2022 vintage

Medium body, bright ruby, lovely raspberry fruit on the front of the palate, a touch of smoke adds a little complexity, decent finish, ready and will keep, an excellent CdR that could be drunk a little chilled in summertime

2020 vintage

Le CDR souple, parfumé (violette, petits fruits rouge, poivre), d'un abord assez simple et facile, sans chaleur excessive. Syrah (60%) et Grenache pour un ensemble frais qui sonne finalement un peu Nord avec sa fraicheur et sa texture légère...

2022 vintage

Beruset decent CdR

2022 vintage

Smell of cured meat, black olives, plum. Dry and medium bodied with a hint of tannins. Taste of plum, red currant, cured meat, black olives. Floral hint of lavender. Also a bit graphite/mineral.

2022 vintage

PnP. Dark with black fruit and some pepper. Classic CDR and quite a lot going on for the relatively low price.

2022 vintage

Jättegott, lagom kraftfullt till grillat och potatisgratäng samt på egen hand. Prisvärt och kommer köpas igen.

2022 vintage

So so good for its level- a sense of ripeness and clarity, pretty floral tones and saturated dark berries, some coffee and pepper. A Northern-leaning Côtes du Rhône but with nice pulpy Grenache character offering easy appeal. Nicely concentrated fruit on the palate, cherry and raspberry with a hint of bitterness and gently claggy tannins building on the finish. Total secret weapon wine- delicious, great with a range of foods (spot on with Turkish and steak) and cheap as chips

2020 vintage

Excellent, powerfull CDR without being jammy.

2022 vintage

Comfort zone Wine, drinkable thats it.

2022 vintage

A cut above the usual Cotes du Rhone. Lovely red and black fruits with a herbal touch, giving way to spice and oaky warmth. Nicely integrated - good now, could improve - but Iâ€™m impatient.

2020 vintage

Very alcoholic on the nose and leathery on the tongue

2020 vintage

Sold to Catherine & CM, beuf borgogne

2020 vintage

Nydelig, fruktig Côtes du Rhône med flott syrah-preg. Solid vin til rimelig penge.

2020 vintage

Tannins overwhelm the fruit a bit, more leather than berry

2020 vintage

Solid. Has a bit of carbonic notes which I suspect will leave in a couple months. Good Syrah fruit though compact. A little umami. Structure is loose.

2020 vintage

Deep ruby red colour with purple red brim. Nose is fruity with notes of blueberry yoghurt and spices. Mouthfeel is quite light bodied, despite 14,5 % of alcohol, fruity, with smooth tannins, decent acidity and notes of blueberry yoghurt and herbs. Nothing really special, but totally decent everyday Côtes-du-Rhône from northern Rhône.

2020 vintage

Just jumped to the top of my list for top cotes du Rhone. Fresh, bright, garrigue and wild black fruit. Nice little tannic bite on finish. Great with grilled steak. Really impressed with purity and freshness of this wine. Opened about 30-40 min before drinking.

2011 vintage

Opened one hour in advance. Rich floral aromas, with dishwater. Clean, complex flavors of cassis, red fruit, plums. Slight bacon in the finish, which was much more pronounced early on. Excellent stuff, really singing right now.

2011 vintage

I am so lucky that I got a whole bunch of these bottles. ��

2011 vintage

Corked! ��

2011 vintage

Oh hell ya. Franck told me these are young vines on cornas just before these vines mature. It's obvious. Pretty solid cotes du rhone with natural intensity.

2011 vintage

Last of my bottles, and what a great value this was. Bright, high toned red fruits and olives tinged with pepper and faint smoky notes, a very classic Northern Rhone syrah that's all too easy to drink. Thanks Z for the recommendation.

2011 vintage

Another really good bottle, though this one was a touch more tannic and reserved on the palate than others were. But it still had plenty of the same bright red fruit, olives, pepper and floral notes in a very elegant, easy drinking package.

2011 vintage

Continues to be consistently awesome. Fresh red fruits and olives tinged with meaty, floral and saline notes, all conveyed with a lightness and finesse I didn't find in the Balthazar Cornas bottlings. This is excellent for immediate drinking.

2011 vintage

From memory. Meaty, violets and garrigue on the nose. Very nice nose, but not supported by the balate. Quite one dimensional red fruit, very acidic. Definitely fresh and works well with food, but not an extremely exciting wine. Half of the bottle saved for a day, and actually slightly better and more open on day 2.

2011 vintage

Continues to be awesome. Maybe a touch more tannic than my other bottles have been, but it eases up with a little air and remains incredibly light and refreshing with a very classic Northern Rhone Syrah character.

2011 vintage

This is really good, but this wines comes alive on day 2. For the price, for a northern rhone cotes du rhone this is a great value. Wonderful purity and freshness, with great florals and olives and spice. The fruit is lush but all is balanced.

2011 vintage

Cheap Northern Rhone roundup (~$20) : This is firming up a bit, with bramblier and weedier elements taking a greater share of center stage. This bottle has been open three days and just keeps on going, with the vegetal aspects increasingly tending toward the medicinal herb end of the spectrum. Unmistakably Northern Rhone in origin. Just a knockout value; can't wait for the 2012s.

2011 vintage

Dyp rubinrød. Medium intensitet. Duft av mørke bær, pepper, kjøtt og jord. Fyldig med mørke bær, krydder og kjøttoner på smak. Medium syre og medium tanniner. Medium lengde.

2011 vintage

Grapes come supposedly from Cornas youg vines. The resulting wine is a very atypical CdR, lither and refined but also less opulent than your traditional CdR from quality producers (eg Janasse, Andezon, Saint Cosme). Clearly a style oriented towards finesse. I like!

2011 vintage

Lett på foten, fruktig, elegant og bra ettersmak. Cornas light, drikker godt og behagelig nese.

2011 vintage

Very rich cranberry red color. Smells very smoky, with black currant and blackberry notes. Very smooth initial mouthfeel, but is also very acidic. The dark berry notes are prevalent in the taste, but the finish is almost sour. Rich and flavorful, with spiciness in the middle and maybe just a touch of earthiness.

2011 vintage

Another really good bottle of this. Very pure, fresh and savoury, with bright red fruits and olives framed by vivid pepper and gentle floral elements. Very light on its feet and so easy to drink now. Great value, and I wish I had bought more.

2011 vintage

Kjøttfull, pepper og mørke bær. Bra syre, men noe ustrukturert over tanninene. Kanskje trenger den mer lagring, uansett må definitivt kjøpe mer!

2011 vintage

Delicious syrah. I'm a little less positive on it than Salil. For me, it lacks just a touch of concentration in the middle. There's a bit of a hole that I'd love to see filled, even at this price point. But overall it's a very drinkable, fresh syrah with attractive pepper and meatiness. Very satisfying.

2011 vintage

More of the same. I am really amazed at the quality here at the price point; this is a really fantastic, savoury and peppery Syrah with an acid spine and a bit of grainy tannin that gives me the impression that a few years in the cellar wouldn't hurt it, yet it's so drinkable and appealing now it's hard to not drink it.

2011 vintage

Yet more classic Northern Rhône styled Syrah goodness here. Peppery and faintly meaty accents around pure red and dark fruits and green olives, so bright and lively on the palate and all too easy to drink.

2011 vintage

Freshly ground black pepper and lightly roasted meat. This is from grapes? Very fine and very good value.

2011 vintage

Another excellent bottle of this, very classic, traditional Syrah with pure dark fruit, green olives and higher toned floral and peppery notes coming together on a polished, medium weight frame.

2011 vintage

This remains one of the greatest bargains in wine right now, as it delivers rivetingly pure and authentic Northern Rhone character and complexity for a very slight tariff ($20). This latest bottle struck me as more floral and mineral than the rest, but just a bit.

2011 vintage

Very light and tasty, never overbearing, so different from a new world syrah.

2011 vintage

Are you sure?

Franck Balthazar, Cotes du Rhone

Vintages

No vintages

Community Reviews