Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is a stunning young wine, unfurling in the decanter and glass to reveal aromas of lemon oil, candle wax, dried white flowers, woodsmoke and a classy framing of noble reduction. On the palate, the wine is immensely concentrated, with the chewy, chalky phenolic structure of a red wine, racy acids and a long, searingly mineral finish. This superb Corton-Charlemagne has not merely years but decades ahead of it.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.