Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The blockbuster styled 2014 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru boasts huge notes of toasted spices, ripe apple/orchard fruits, and citrus, with perfectly integrated toasty oak all in the background. It’s very much in the style of the 2014 vintage, has a layered, seamless, vibrant profile, racy acidity, and a great finish. It’s a beauty.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which is sourced from the Pernand side of the hill, has a precise bouquet with lemon peel, granite and smoky notes, almost Puligny-like in terms of its reserve. The palate is fresh and vibrant with good body, fine tension thanks to that keen line of acidity, with hints of orange peel towards the finish. This is a commendable Corton-Charlemagne in a year where I felt it did not particularly shine.
Barrel Sample: 91-93
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.
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.