Excellent for the price, will seek out more…only frustration is that the price shot up since I bought these. Hate when that happens!
Nice note - really like the Balthazar wines. The Chaillot used to be a complete no brainer over the Casimir but I’ve found the Casimir to be far easier and cheaper to source. Funnily enough I’ve been doing a little more exploring in Northern Rhone and also liked an entry level Levet I had recently - agree with the comparison.
Love the wine and it may well be deserved, but I can’t go forward with the $100 tariff of recent vintages.
i completely agree. i was buying $40-50 bottles of the chaillot just 2-3 years ago.
not a huge fan of the producer…a bit too rustic for my taste…maybe its just cornas for me as i do love cote and hermitage.
I appreciate the opinion - it’s the ‘new’ rustic style, for sure - not the brooding, iron-rich, meat, bold N Rhones, but the more green/herbal rusticity like Levet, to me. I guess it’s exactly what I was searching for, really.
Agree also with not pursuing it at the $100-$110 price point…
At this risk of hijackings Todd’s thread, the sound of brooding,iron-rich meaty Northern Rhônes sounds delicious but I don’t know the region well. Who are some producers I would check out in the sub- $100 a bottle range?
The 2015 Balthazar Chaillot has been a standout for me on the two occasions that I have tasted/drunk it, and a noticeable step up from the 2014 in terms of concentration and flamboyance. I haven’t found this wine rustic and look forward to trying it again over the next 10-20 years.
Start with a Faury vv st Joseph and see if it rings your bell. If you want to start in Cornas Guillaume Gilles would be in that vein. Keep in mind 14 was a weak(er) to average Year, and we have a bunch of solar years to follow which will need more time to show what’s underneath. 11/12/14 would probably show more classic or herbal character At this point if you can find anything.
After re reading I see you said brooding is what you want though so 2015+ should provide that. Vincent Paris Geynale is another option. His 30 is a fine wine And a nice price but More modern leaning beware.
Very nice note, Todd. Like Balthazar’s Cornas offerings, including the Sans Soufre bottling, but pricing spiked too much for my taste.
also not a fan of levet…at least the 3-4 bottles of journaries that i had from 2007-2010ish. just not my style preference.
There’s a $100 tax or duty on recent vintages of the wine? 
Everyone misuses that term when it comes to wine prices, Envoyer is the worst at abusing tariff. I start ‘loosing’ my mind sometimes.
I like that '14 Todd. The '15 is a beauty and whilst the price may have gone up it is still about a third of the price of Allemand.
Good point on Allemand
Isn’t that like saying Joguet is cheap at $75 because Rougeard is $225?
Allemand is way way better.
Um…I opened this bottle for YOU as you’ve never had any…how would you know if Allemand is better?
I haven’t had the 2014 Chaillot but have had the 2014 San Soufre Cornas bottling.
Super different. The sans soufre is a young vines experiment, the Chaillot is a serious wine. But yeah, it’s certainly not Allemand - not that anything is. I’ve stopped buying a few northern Rhone producers due to cost (Clape, Chave), but not the Reynard. I really like Balthazar’s Chaillot though (not so much the Casimir).
I believe Gilles’ main Cornas bottling is all Chaillot fruit. I like his ‘Nouvelle R’ cuvee as well but it is quite a bit fresher in style. In a similar vein but more affordable and a little difficult to find is Mickael Bourg, although it is a bit brighter and more fruit forward. Those were super affordable last time I saw them at about $40.
I saved 1/3 of the bottle to try today, giving it 48 hours under Repour sealer. It’s gained some real depth and became a bit darker in fruit profile, more brooding, bit more meatiness. Not unusual for Northern Rhône, but different from the style it showed early on. For those not fans of the ‘new’ style (as I call it - Levet, Dard et Ribo, etc), just let it age a bit longer, apparently!
Yes, Gilles Cornas is all Chaillot. His Nouvelle R is his take on very high altitude young vines and to me drinks a bit like the Beaujolais of Cornas, which is a bit funny given that I hate Beaujolais but like the nouvelle R as a burger wine.
