Winemaker Notes
Its color is rather deep, its nose powerful and verging on candied fruit and spices when maturing. It has good structure in the mouth, without harshness. A good Corton must have "gras" (a velvety texture) to counterbalance tannin and acidity. On the palate, it recalls the candied fruit present in the nose. Very long and persistent, it ends on a very complex note.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Aromas of slightly savory fruit, white pepper, grapefruit zest, moss, white mushrooms, spices and raspberries. Nuanced and really refined, with fine tannins and a very precise, lengthy finish.
Barrel Sample: 95-96 -
Jasper Morris
Purchases from Languettes and Renardes, as usual, plus their own Bressandes. Crimson-purple, less dense than Clos des Mouches. A very slight reduction. Grand Cru power is evident. This does build significantly on the palate, with a well integrated sense of wood, and fair length. Certainly not overly powerful but adequately so. Drink from 2030-2036.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of plums, sweet berries and smoked meats introduce the 2024 Corton Grand Cru, a medium- to full-bodied, ample and fleshy wine with a succulent core of fruit and good persistence on the finish.
Rating: 91+
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.