Winemaker Notes
Corton red wines are typically full-bodied with firm structure, dark berry fruit with earth nuances, and savory tannins. These are wines which reward patience, as the initial austerity refines and unfolds to reveal subtle floral and spice notes and an impressively long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
Taken from a foudre rather than cask, the 2023 Corton-Pougets Grand Cru has an enticing bouquet with wonderfully defined red berry fruit, hints of tobacco and forest floor, delivering the complexity you'd expect from arguably Jadot's strongest red cuvée in the Côte de Beaune. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. Displaying exquisite balance and poise with plenty of nascent energy and a sustained, lightly spiced finish, this 2023 is up to the task of following the impressive 2022. Superb.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Jasper Morris
A full ruby to crimson. The bouquet makes a statement, more savoury than sucrosity. The Corton Pougets has fine depth too, with tannins, but all this will come together. The quality of pinot is excellent and there is an element of throwback in the style. Barrel Sample: 91-94
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Corton-Pougets Grand Cru (Domaine des Héritiers Jadot) is also an attractive effort, delivering notes of sweet red berries, spices and orange zest followed by a medium to full-bodied, velvety and supple palate that's suave and seamless. This is another cuvée that will offer a broad drinking window.
Barrel Sample: 92-94
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.