Wine Advisor
Courbis, Cornas La Sabarotte 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
The top Cornas here is the 2016 Cornas la Sabarotte. It’s aging in 80% new oak until being bottled in June 2018. Yes, it’s an unabashedly modern style, full-bodied, creamy in texture and offering pristine purple raspberry fruit, but man is this good. It will be hard to keep from drinking this in its first 5-10 years.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This has very expansive, fleshy appeal with plenty of rich, dark-spiced berries on the nose and a wealth of ripe, dark-plum, blackberry and black-cherry flavors. Shimmery, long tannins and dark chocolate to close. The pick of the Courbis reds from 2016. Drink or hold.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
(100% new oak) Lurid bright-rimmed purple. Intensely perfumed, oak-spiced aromas of dark berry liqueur, incense and potpourri are energized by a smoky mineral flourish. Sweet and seamless in the mouth, offering densely packed yet lithe blackberry and cherry-vanilla flavors along with suggestions of candied violet, spicecake and mocha. The floral and mineral notes resonate strongly on an impressively long, penetrating finish that features harmonious tannins.
About the Producer
The Courbis family have been making wine from their cellars in Chateaubourg since 1587. Brothers Laurent and Dominique have taken over from their father, Maurice, and there is a real wind of change and optimism blowing at this estate. The Courbis brothers produce some of the most compelling examples of St. Joseph and Cornas being made today. They have successfully combined their long family experience with a modern style, and their achievement has earned them international recognition. The estate owns 33 hectares divided as follows: 8 hectares in Cornas; 5 hectares of St Joseph Blanc; 19 hectares of St Joseph Rouge and 1 hectare of Syrah Vin de Pays de l’Ardeche.
