2012 Barret - Cornas Billes Roires

Fruit is a little more expressive than in the Brise Cailloux. Already silky even though there's some grip on the finish. Elegant within a firm dry style. Persistent, too. (JH)

Coming from the upper part of Cornas and seeing 24 months in 400-500 Liter barrels (none new), the 2012 Cornas Domaine du Coulet Billes Noires is an incredible effort that’s up with the crème de la crème of the vintage. Its inky purple color is followed by an awesome bouquet of cassis, bacon fat, olive, peppered meat and iron, with additional minerality coming through with air. Classic in every way, with full-bodied richness, stunning purity and integrated acidity, it’s a big, brooding and concentrated effort that’s reasonably approachable now due to its fruit and texture, yet won’t hit prime time until 6-7 years after the vintage and will have two decades of longevity.||To say I was blown away by these new releases from the young Matthieu Barret would be an understatement. Pulling from close to 24 acres in Cornas (which is a sizeable portion) and a wealth of old vines, he releases three, sometime four, Cornas in any vintage. The classic cuvee is the Brise Cailloux, which sees around 13 months in larger barrels and concrete tank. The Les Terrasses du Serre is a slightly smaller production releases that comes from the lieux-dits les Arlettes, les Reynards and la Patronne. It's aged 18 months in mostly older barrels, but also sees some time in concrete eggs. Even a smaller production (there's normally 500 cases or so), the Billes Noirs comes all from the Les Arlettes lieu-dit and 55-year-old vines. It's aged upwards of two years in 500-liter, older barrels. Lastly, and bottled only in Magnum, the Gore release is a selection of the best parcels and is brought up all in concrete eggs. All of these are brilliant wines that I can't recommend enough! eRobertParker.com.December, 2014