Franck Balthazar

The Balthazar estate was founded in 1931 by Franck Balthazar's grandfather, Casimir. René Balthazar took over from his father in 1950 and began estate-bottling a portion of his production by the 1970s, and in 2002, Franck Balthazar left his textile factory job to take over the family estate.

Most of the vineyards are planted to Petite Syrah, with holdings of half-century-old vines in Mazards and La Côte, plus a 1914 planting in Chaillot acquired from Noël Verset. In addition, terraces were created and vines planted on the steep Lègre slope and high-elevation Les Prés, and in 2013, Balthazar acquired a small plot of pure Roussanne planted on clay over granite in Saint-Péray. Viticulture includes plowing with a horse and using no artificial fertilizers, pesticides, or fungicides. Cellar work features whole-cluster, native-yeast fermentations in concrete vats, manual cap punching, aging in old neutral 600-liter demi-muids, and bottling without fining or filtration, and its wines include Cornas Chaillot.