Winemaker Notes
Ideal pairings include venison, game birds, or full-flavored cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The 2022 Bouchard Corton boasts concentrated mulberry and black plum fruit aromas, hints of violets and liquorice, and sweet oak spice. The texture is velvety and dense, with supple tannins and a pleasantly persistent finish underscored by a saline mineral note. Despite the location of the vines near the top of the slope, the grapes were picked early; 40% of the crop was fermented as whole clusters. This wine should open up in five to seven years and drink for another 25 beyond that.
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James Suckling
This has the tannic power we expect from this appellation, but in a plush and restrained form. That core is wrapped in a velvet blanket, but the dominant aromas are dark and earthy, with touches of licorice or pine bark. Very long, compact and earthy finish that promises a very long life. From a 3.55 hectare parcel on shallow red-clay soil that's almost next to the forest at the top of hill and faces east. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Plush and packed with cherry, raspberry, boysenberry, earth and spice flavors, this red is athletic and focused. Mineral and woodsy underbrush elements add complexity as this builds to the long, lingering aftertaste, which reverberates with fruit, mineral and savory notes. Best from 2029 through 2047. 90 cases imported.
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Jasper Morris
Mid to deep crimson. Cooked strawberries on the nose. Not really cooked, crushed and peppery really. 50% whole bunches can be seen as well as the limestone aspect of the top of the hill. Almost floral, aiming at a more elegant style rather than a massive one, given the situation. But a very long finish. I was also shown an amphora version of the Corton which had a mid-crimson colour, with a dark raspberry and crushed strawberry nose. Like the Clos de la Mousse, the amphora version comes across as a bit gravelly, the tannins a little more pronounced. Scored for the main version. Drink from 2030-2038. Tasted Oct 2023.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Le Corton Grand Cru is another highlight of the range, mingling aromas of sweet cherries, berries and plums in a complex bouquet, followed by a medium to full-bodied, deep and layered palate that's dense and structured but beautifully refined, concluding with a long, penetrating finish.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Vinous
The 2022 Le Corton Grand Cru comes from vines at higher altitude. It has a well-defined and precise bouquet, the altitude imparting more freshness than some of the other red cuvées this year. The medium-bodied palate has supple tannins and a mixture of red and black fruit, white pepper and clove, leading to a refined and persistent finish. Excellent.
Barrel Sample: 92-94
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Prevailing over the charming village of Aloxe, the hill of Corton actually commands the entire appellation. Corton is the only Grand Cru for Pinot Noir in the entire Côte de Beaune. Its Grand Crus red wines can be described simply as “Corton” or Corton hyphenated with other names. These vineyards cover the southeast face of the hill of Corton where soils are rich in red chalk, clay and marl.
Dense and austere when young, the best Corton Pinot Noir will peak in complexity and flavor after about a decade, offering some of the best rewards in cellaring among Côte de Beaune reds. Pommard and Volnay offer similar potential.
The great whites of the village are made within Corton-Charlemagne, a cooler, narrow band of vineyards at the top of the hill that descends west towards the village of Pernand-Vergelesses. Here the thin and white stony soils produce Chardonnay of exceptional character, power and finesse. A minimum of five years in bottle is suggested but some can be amazing long after. Fully half of Aloxe-Corton is considered Grand Cru.