Winemaker Notes
An intense garnet-red and brilliant color. The nose is dense and complex with black fruits and wood mushrooms aromas.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Parent’s dazzling 2022 Corton Les Renardes is my definition of quintessential Burgundy – flavor without weight. You feel the effect of 100% new oak ageing – a luxurious suaveness – without sensing its presence. It has a bit of everything; ripe pure fruit, savory nuances, captivating aromatics and terrific length and freshness, all enrobed in a suave texture. The flavors and support are perfectly integrated, making this a captivating harmonious wine. In contrast to Parent’s Pommard, Anne used 100% whole bunch (no destemming), which she thinks helps account for the wine’s stunning aromatics and elegance. With her usual modesty, Anne says: 'It took me a decade plus to understand Corton'. Well, she clearly gets it now!
-
Vinous
The 2022 Corton les Renardes Grand Cru is 100% whole bunches and 100% new French oak. It has a superb bouquet - you cannot tell the stems are here at all. Very floral with dried rose petals, a touch of lavender and pure red berry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, slightly chalky tannins. The oak is more prominent towards the finish and will require several years to assimilate fully.
Barrel Sample: 91-93
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.