Tasted Friday, June 8, 2018 by Paul S with 112 views
A reprise of a dinner theme we had back in 2015 - Corton-Charlemagne (whites) and the various Corton (Red) Grand Crus. This time with a more even line-up of vintages and another nice cross-section of sterling winemakers.
Corton-Charlies and their red Corton siblings often find themselves find their way into a dinner as singletons, and this was an unusual opportunity to have a focus was entirely on wines from the hill of Corton. While there was a preponderance of whites the last time round (especially from Bonneau du Martray), we found ourselves with more reds tonight, which made for a nice exploration.
About the whites then. From experience (and certainly in the tiny cross-section that we had tonight), they often have a certain chalky, flinty, minerally quality to them, so that the character of the wines have an almost familial likeness to the warmer Grand Crus of Chablis - say Les Clos for example. On the one other hand, they also share some of the scale and power of the great Puligny and Chassagne Grand Crus, (Montrachet, Batard et al), yet somehow tampered with a beautiful reserve and minerality. Interestingly, apart from that chalky minerality that pops regularly, I have also sometimes found a rather singular note of white chocolate on the whites, which has often been a pretty good giveaway in blind tastings. All in all, as tonight's tasting underlined again, when a Corton-Charlamagne is on song, it can truly be one of the greatest white wines of the world.
The reds were harder to out a finger on. Given the size of the vineyard and the multiplicity of makers exploring the terroir, I have often found red Cortons to be variable both in style and quality (although this was not the case with the lovely selection we had on the night, which were uniformly very good wines). It would be fair to say though that most show a firm muscular structure and share some of the reserved, minerally tones that the whites had. That aside, any differences and similarities were probably more down to the makers' style than the terroir.
All in all, a great dinner with a really interesting theme.
1969 G. H. Mumm & Cie Champagne René Lalou 92 Points
France, Champagne
Deep and characterful - this was a really nicely aged Champagne. The nose had a deep oxidative lilt to it, almost rancio, but with a rich waft of toasty yellow fruit, honey and caramel tones pulling underneath. Bubbles had all but gone on the palate, but the wine was still lively and impeccably balanced, with a warm glow of honeyed tones and ever-so-slightly oxidative yellow fruit. There was just a little kiss of warmth and spice right at the very end that drew out the finish. Idiosyncractic, as many wines at this age would be, but this was an old charmer.
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