Winemaker Notes
Corton "Clos du Roi" is a Grand Cru in and of itself. It has the material, the complexity, the touch and the profoundness required. It is remarkable to find in the wine its geographical positioning, borrowing as much from the Côte de Nuits (complex aromatics and superior tannin quality) as from the Côte de Beaune (freshness, vibrancy and firmness of material).
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Corton Grand Cru Clos du Roi is showing superbly, delivering a complex bouquet of ripe cherries, raspberries, burning embers, grilled squab, black truffle and rich soil tones. On the palate, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with an elegantly muscular chassis of powdery tannins, lively acids, and a long, resonant finish.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 -
Jasper Morris
Dense dark purple with lush sweet fruit. A little bit of bramble jelly in the fruit profile, with a drier finish. Far from top-heavy and not showing heat at the finish. Just a little barrel toast. I think this will knit together well, but it is not quite in place at the moment.
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.