Who Are Your Top Cornas Producers and Why Do I Keep Buying?

[Yao_C]

Top 3 by the numbers right now:
Juge (No. 1 by a wide margin)
Allemand
Gilles

Jayson I cannot imagine the number of cases of Juge you must have

[John_Morris]

Justin,
I love your list, especially the Balthazar, Allemand, Clape, and Paris (but only the Geynale). i’ve never had a Juge. One more old school-styled young winemaker to check out is Mickaël Bourg. Old vines in nice vineyards, minuscule production, whole clusters, old wood, no fining/filtering

Drink the Franck Balthazar Côtes du Rhône while you wait for your Cornas to mature. It’s freaking delicious!

Cheers,
Warren

Funny that I’ve always passed on the Balthazar CdR. I’ll have to revisit that decision. While I’m typically patient in waiting for wines to mature, I like trying them in their youth to get a sense of what they might become. Much easier to do in CdR, St Joseph and Hermitage than in Cornas.

In a recent head-to-head, I preferred the 19 Chave Selection Mon Coeur CdR to the 19 Balthazar CdR (which I still enjoyed, and would readily drink again).

FYI, both the Mon Coeur and the Balthazar CdR are Southern Rhone blends, with grenache, syrah and mourvedre, so naturally more approachable young, and not really comparable to Cornas, St Joseph, Crozes or Hermitage.

[Jayson_Cohen]

Top 3 by the numbers right now:
Juge (No. 1 by a wide margin)
Allemand
Gilles

Jayson I cannot imagine the number of cases of Juge you must have

Less than you might think. I have about 3.5 cases left total in 750, plus a couple mags. I’m guessing others here have more.

[YLee]

I only know my top #1 in quantity
Allemand reynard

[Ramon_C]

Allemand (by a wide margin)
Verset
Clape
Voge (3)

Thin. Don’t have others.

[MikeL238]

Top 3 by the numbers right now:
Juge (No. 1 by a wide margin)
Allemand
Gilles

Jayson I cannot imagine the number of cases of Juge you must have

Less than you might think. I have about 3.5 cases left total in 750, plus a couple mags. I’m guessing others here have more.

Wow that is impressive. Jealous!

[IlkkaL]

I don’t have all that much Cornas but Allemand is the easily biggest holding. Would like to have a lot more, of course.

[Ethan_Abraham]

Allemand #1 for me and then about equal amount of juge, Gilles, Balthazar, and cuchet belliando.

[PCLIN]

1. Clape, #1 by a wide margin, from annual allocations.

2. Alain Voge

3. A&E Verset

4. Vincent Paris

5. Dumien Serrette

6. Thierry Allemand

7. Guillaume Gilles

8. Noel Verset

[JulianEldridge]

Funny that I’ve always passed on the Balthazar CdR. I’ll have to revisit that decision. While I’m typically patient in waiting for wines to mature, I like trying them in their youth to get a sense of what they might become. Much easier to do in CdR, St Joseph and Hermitage than in Cornas.

In a recent head-to-head, I preferred the 19 Chave Selection Mon Coeur CdR to the 19 Balthazar CdR (which I still enjoyed, and would readily drink again).

FYI, both the Mon Coeur and the Balthazar CdR are Southern Rhone blends, with grenache, syrah and mourvedre, so naturally more approachable young, and not really comparable to Cornas, St Joseph, Crozes or Hermitage.

Yeah, yeah–syrah and CdP were my ‘gateways’ into wine, half of the wines I own are N or S Rhone, spent our honeymoon in the Rhone valley… My point was “if you want a CdR to drink while biding the time, this other notable N. rhone syrah producer makes one that is worth considering alongside Balthazar’s”.

As for Cornas producers: I’m fond of Ferraton’s Patou and Les Eygats bottlings.

[Jayson_Cohen]

A bit of thread drift on CdR above but other than a few specialty wines labeled nominally CdR like Eric Texier’s CdR wines or Dom Ste. Anne when available, I’ve come to not understand ever buying them. Personal choice. Could also be related to what I think about (most) Grenache-dominated French wines….

[MikeL238]

A bit of thread drift on CdR above but other than a few specialty wines labeled nominally CdR like Eric Texier’s CdR wines or Dom Ste. Anne when available, I’ve come to not understand ever buying them. Personal choice. Could also be related to what I think about (most) Grenache-dominated French wines….

I tend to agree with you on this. Just not been a fan of Grenache dominated wines in general except for a few CdP.

[Warren_Taranow]

Funny that I’ve always passed on the Balthazar CdR. I’ll have to revisit that decision. While I’m typically patient in waiting for wines to mature, I like trying them in their youth to get a sense of what they might become. Much easier to do in CdR, St Joseph and Hermitage than in Cornas.

In a recent head-to-head, I preferred the 19 Chave Selection Mon Coeur CdR to the 19 Balthazar CdR (which I still enjoyed, and would readily drink again).

FYI, both the Mon Coeur and the Balthazar CdR are Southern Rhone blends, with grenache, syrah and mourvedre, so naturally more approachable young, and not really comparable to Cornas, St Joseph, Crozes or Hermitage.

Maybe the blend has changed. My Balthazar CdR’s were 2011’s, and were 100% Syrah…and fantastic despite the vintage. They were also Sans Soufre. They’re also all gone.

Cheers,
Warren

[MikeL238]

Franck Balthazar Côtes du Rhône - Sussex Wine & Spirits, New York, NY,...

What the…

[Warren_Taranow]

Funny that I’ve always passed on the Balthazar CdR. I’ll have to revisit that decision. While I’m typically patient in waiting for wines to mature, I like trying them in their youth to get a sense of what they might become. Much easier to do in CdR, St Joseph and Hermitage than in Cornas.

In a recent head-to-head, I preferred the 19 Chave Selection Mon Coeur CdR to the 19 Balthazar CdR (which I still enjoyed, and would readily drink again).

FYI, both the Mon Coeur and the Balthazar CdR are Southern Rhone blends, with grenache, syrah and mourvedre, so naturally more approachable young, and not really comparable to Cornas, St Joseph, Crozes or Hermitage.

Maybe the blend has changed. My Balthazar CdR’s were 2011’s, and were 100% Syrah…and fantastic despite the vintage. They were also Sans Soufre. They’re also all gone.

Cheers,
Warren

As usual, John’s correct. The recent blend is 60:40 Grenache:Syrah. I found this on an importer’s website.
However, this was one of the rare times I was correct too! The 2011 I drank was 100% Syrah! Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then!

Cheers,
Warren

[Keith_A_k_e_r_s]

Cue this thread being bumped in ~15 years when posters start ruminating on the prices of Gilles+Lionnet+Balthazar

[TBurklow]

If there is someone that is a N Rhone freak that wasn’t lucky enough to get Juge while he was around, feel free to drop me a PM.

Be happy to share a bottle.

Would need you to send me a FedEx label, though.

[Greg_K]

Cue this thread being bumped in ~15 years when posters start ruminating on the prices of Gilles+Lionnet+Balthazar

Balthazar is almost there now. Saw a bottle of the 15 Chaillot on a list for 550 last month and chuckled.

[Greg_K]

In a recent head-to-head, I preferred the 19 Chave Selection Mon Coeur CdR to the 19 Balthazar CdR (which I still enjoyed, and would readily drink again).

FYI, both the Mon Coeur and the Balthazar CdR are Southern Rhone blends, with grenache, syrah and mourvedre, so naturally more approachable young, and not really comparable to Cornas, St Joseph, Crozes or Hermitage.

Maybe the blend has changed. My Balthazar CdR’s were 2011’s, and were 100% Syrah…and fantastic despite the vintage. They were also Sans Soufre. They’re also all gone.

Cheers,
Warren

As usual, John’s correct. The recent blend is 60:40 Grenache:Syrah. I found this on an importer’s website.
However, this was one of the rare times I was correct too! The 2011 I drank was 100% Syrah! Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then!

Cheers,
Warren

Warren, what you drank is now mostly the Sans Soufre bottling.

[Keith_A_k_e_r_s]

Cue this thread being bumped in ~15 years when posters start ruminating on the prices of Gilles+Lionnet+Balthazar

Balthazar is almost there now. Saw a bottle of the 15 Chaillot on a list for 550 last month and chuckled.

…I just had to pick my jaw up from hitting the floor