Franck Balthazar Cotes du Rhone Rouge 2024 Color:Red A vanishingly rare grape native

A vanishingly rare grape native to Piedmont is making some interesting noise around town

clean acidity

spicy and salty joy with aromas of lime

and until recently the Xinomavro grape was a strictly local treat in the dockside cafes of Thessaloniki

there’s very little standing between the garrigue laced soil

Franck Balthazar Cotes du Rhone Rouge 2024 Color:Red A vanishingly rare grape nativeWhen Franck Balthazar returned home in 2002 to take over his fathers vines in Cornas, the stakes were relatively low. Cornas was less important than it is now, a small Northern Rhone village where most growers sold their wine in cask to local restaurants rather than bottling them. Things have changed somewhat since then, but Francks methods remain firmly low tech in the vineyard and winery, and his wines are old schooled, full structured, meaty and