Franck Balthazar, Cornas Cuvee Casimir, 2023 lettie teague wsj on wine Full-bodied with slowly maturing red

Full-bodied with slowly maturing red and black fruits

The tannins are present but polished

exploring how place

This is mountain Chardonnay with poise and precision

abandoning a law career to revive the estate founded by his great-grandfather Clément Manguin in the early 20th century

Franck Balthazar, Cornas Cuvee Casimir, 2023 lettie teague wsj on wine Full-bodied with slowly maturing redFranck Balthazar farms organically and vinifies with old school Cornas precision, letting his granite terroir speak without makeup. Cuvee Casimir is his more accessible Cornas bottling, named in the family tradition and built for earlier drinking than his flagship sites. The 2023 leans into juicy black and red fruit, a twist of pepper, and the savory, smoky edge that marks this appellation. Approachable young, but it will hold and gain complexity over