Blasts from the Past: Courbis, Cornas La Sabarotte, 2000

Blasts from the Past: an occasional recording of a wine we used to sell, enjoyed in full maturity. Last weekend I opened a bottle of the Courbis, Cornas, La Sabarotte 2000 with the hypercritical daughter. Soon after this vintage we stopped shipping from the Courbis brothers for two reasons: they liked a bit too much new oak for our taste; and personally they were just a bit smooth and glib. However, they knew what they were doing with their top Cornas, from vines planted in 1947. 2000 was a good rather than great year in the northern Rhone, but this wine was amazing. Dense and sombre, with a scarily open (for its age) perfume of mocha and black fruits, this was fat and velvety, flavoured with blackcurrants and savoury touches. It had so much energy and power for a 17 year old wine. We used to sell this for £30ish. I see very recent vintages are £50ish - to be honest, that looks good value if they develop like this bottle.