2019 Cornas La Sabarotte
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Tasting notes
Inky violet color. A hugely complex bouquet evokes ripe dark fruits, olive, floral, bacon fat and vanilla, and smoky mineral and tobacco notes appear with aeration. Stains the palate with deeply concentrated, spice- and mineral-accented bitter cherry, blueberry, dark chocolate and violet pastille flavors that show fine definition and back-end lift. Velvety, slowly building tannins frame an extremely long, subtly chewy finish that echoes the blue fruit and floral notes. (JR)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Lastly, the 2019 Cornas La Sabarotte is a candidate for the wine of the vintage in Cornas, and it’s about as thrilling as they come. Much riper and sexier, it reminds me of a great Hermitage from the Meal lieu-dit and has lots of cassis and blackberry fruits, notes of violets, ground pepper, iron, and some gamey meat, full-bodied richness, velvety tannins, and an awesome finish. It’s a big, rich, sexy wine that will take 4-5 years to shed some baby fat and have two decades of overall longevity.
Bottled in June 2021, the 2019 Cornas la Sabarotte delivers huge doses of pristine blueberry and cherry fruit despite being aged in a combination of new and one-year-old barrels. It's full-bodied, rich and tannic but supple, with a long, lively finish. Stylistically, it nicely epitomizes what consumers have come to expect from the Courbis family.
Ripe blackberry and cherry aromas are complicated by suggestions of exotic spices, olive, vanilla and pungent flowers. Youthfully chewy, appealingly sweet black and blue fruit flavors gain depth and spiciness with air, while a smoky mineral element adds lift and back-end cut. Building tannins add grip to an impressively long, floral-driven finish that leaves allspice and cola notes behind.