Winemaker Notes
La Sabarotte is Courbis’ most dramatic Cornas, showing saturated black-purple in color with layers of chewy, ripe, sweet fruit with black olive and berry, tar and mineral notes.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Cornas la Sabarotte is another big, plush, full-throttle Syrah. Aged largely in new oak, it leads off with hints of vanilla and baking spices, then segues into red and black currants. Full-bodied, supple and plush, it's what some people will call "international" in style, but there's no denying the overall quality. Ripe fruit, clean/new oak and meticulous care in the cellar have resulted in another great wine from this estate.
-
Wine Spectator
Rock-solid, this strapping young Cornas offers loads of blackberry and black currant compote flavors, mixed with sweet tapenade, humus and tar notes, all while maintaining a focused, lively feel throughout. Sneakily good now, but cellar this for maximum effect. Best from 2023 through 2040.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Distinguished as a fine Syrah producing zone since the 18th century, Cornas, like Cote Rotie, is made up of vineyards covering steep and hard-to-work, granite terraces. As a result the region’s wines fell out of favor during the mid 20th century when the global market was more focused on bulk wines and vineyards that yielded high quantities. It wasn’t until the 1980s when a group of energetic young winemakers reestablished the integrity of these precipitous terraces and also began making an ultra-modern style of Syrah. The new style didn’t need a decade before it was drinkable and could reach the consumer faster than the region’s traditional wines. Given the new quality coming out of the zone, its popularity once again soared and today a good Cornas can easily challenge many of those from Hermitage. Characteristics of Syrah from Cornas include teeth-staining flavors of blackberry jam, plum, pepper, violets, smoked game, charcoal, chalk dust and smoke.