2017 Domaine Courbis Cornas La Sabarotte

A candidate for the wine of the vintage in Cornas, the 2017 Cornas La Sabarotte knocks it out of the park with its awesome bouquet of blackcurrants, blackberries, toasted spice, graphite, crushed violets, and scorched earth aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, massively concentrated, and opulent, it has a wall of tannins under its fruit, a deep, concentrated mid-palate, and a great finish. It needs 4-5 years of bottle age and will cruise for 15-20 years. This cuvée comes from a granite terroir and was fermented and aged all in new French oak. The Courbis brothers continue to keep this estate near the top of the hierarchy in the Northern Rhône, and they’ve made brilliant wines in 2017 and 2018. In general, the style here is quasi-modern and the wines are mostly destemmed and brought up in varying amounts of new French oak. Some of the top single vineyards are brought up in 100% new barrels. Nevertheless, these wines never lose their sense of place and are pure, beautiful expressions of the individual parcels.

Glass-staining, bright-rimmed purple. Displays potent, mineral-accented dark berry preserve and incense aromas that are complemented by floral oil, vanilla and exotic spice nuances. Chewy, densely packed and focused on the palate, offering intense blackberry, blueberry, violet pastille and smoky bacon flavors that become livelier with air. Close on strong mineral and floral notes, with solid thrust, youthful, gripping tannins and superb persistence. (70% new oak)

Cask sample. Tasted blind. Compressed, shy nose. More obviously fruity on the palate but overall quite a straightforward style with savoury bramble fruit and some spice from new oak. (RH)