Winemaker Notes
Ruby red in color with clear purple reflections. The nose is powerful, and concentrated and exudes notes of black cherry and spice. The palate is rich and smooth with good energy and concentration. The finish is elegant. An excellent wine for cellar aging.
Professional Ratings
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Jasper Morris
A pretty fresh ruby crimson. The nose is elegant for Corton, fruit enhanced by a floral top note. Very good. Crisp, mineral, vertical, somewhat raw but with a fine quality of fruit, reasonable persistence. The new wood is not marking in flavour but does help to make the structure. Drink from 2028-2036.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 -
James Suckling
This Corton Grand Cru has the imposing structure that we associate with this appellation, but also the aromatic shyness and fresh mineral acidity that not everybody will be pleased by at this early stage of the wine’s long life. For us this is a compelling expression of this great site with excellent mid-palate richness and a very polished finish in spite of a touch of wildness. Try to be patient. Try from 2026.
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Wine Spectator
Pure and silky, offering cherry, raspberry, floral, sandalwood and oak spice aromas and flavors, this gains depth from earth and mineral notes as it builds to the long, intense finish. Shows terrific balance overall, yet this will require six to eight years to hit its stride.
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Vinous
The 2021 Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley Grand Cru has a comparatively light and rustic nose with brambly red fruit and rusty piping, just a bit ragged compared to its peers. The palate has a soft red-fruited entry, easygoing with lower acidity, gentle grip and just a modicum of plushness towards the finish. Clearly early drinking in style, but it slips down the throat with ease. Not bad; however, not near the standard promised from cask.
Founded in 1825, Bourgognes Faiveley has been handed down from father to son for over 175 years. As the sixth generation to take the reins, François Faiveley manages, with equal amounts passion and competence, the largest family domaine in Burgundy. Methodically reconstructing vineyards fractured by French inheritance laws, Bourgognes Faiveley today owns more appellations in their entirety (monopoles) than any other domaine in Burgundy.
"Faiveley’s wines are... supremely clean and elegant: definitive examples of Pinot Noir... above all they have richness and breed, the thumbprint of a master winemaker."
-Clive Coates M.W.
Côte d’Or, A Celebration of the Great Wines of Burgundy
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.