August 22, 2023 - 14% alcohol.
Medium-deep yellow-green color; surprisingly youthful for the wine's age. The nose feels somewhat evolved yet still relatively youthful with attractive, somewhat smoky and very complex aromas of roasted nuts, some lemony notes of ripe citrus fruits, a little bit of candied ginger, light smoky nuances of struck flint and fireworks, and hint of woody spice and a creamy touch of panna cotta. On the palate the wine feels evolved yet not old, medium-bodied and concentrated by the age. There are very intense flavors of ripe Golden Delicious apple and fresh pineapple, some woody notes of savory oak spice, a little bit of developed nutty character, light mineral notes of salinity and incisive steely character, a sweeter hint of dried yellow fruit and a touch of browned butter. The bright, high acidity lends good sense of freshness, structure and focus to the wine. The finish is dry, zippy and moderately evolved with a long, complex aftertaste of tertiary nuttiness and saline minerality, some candied ginger tones, a little bit of bruised apple, light lemony notes of tart citrus fruits, a hint of browned butter and a sweeter touch of wizened yellow fruits.
I have never been the biggest fan of Louis Latour wines and I had no high expectations of this wine, but it managed to surprise me big time - although quite evolved, the wine turned out to be still surprisingly youthful, focused and energetic for its age, showing remarkable sense of freshness, structure and precision in addition to its more aged savory notes. This was a terrific old Corton-Charlie, but I'm not even sure if the wine was at its peak yet! Although the wine was immensely enjoyable now, I got a feeling there was still a little bit of potential for further evolution here. As long as the bottle is in great shape and not prematurely evolved, this is top-notch stuff. Super value at approx. 90€.
March 10, 2023 - From a perfectly stored bottle. Well past its prime but still enjoyable to taste. Everything you’d expect from a 28 year old white burg but just tired. These should be consumed asap.
March 9, 2023 - Sweet on nose. Still drinking decent, but has lost its panache. Drink up.
February 11, 2022 - I've had several bottles of this wine that were tired and over the hill in my opinion. So pleasantly surprised that this one is still holding on. It has lost all of its primary fruit. Instead it shows marzipan, almond and orange peel. It actually is growing on me the longer I sip it.
February 6, 2022 - Tertiary aromatics with fine acidity to support overall structure. Beautiful aged white burg with appealing freshness and weight.
February 15, 2021 - Dark. Deep mildew nose. Sour taste.
December 31, 2016 - Past its prime. Basically an after dinner sherry now.
July 5, 2015 - Corton-Charlemagne & Corton Dinner (Imperial Treasure Shanghai, Ngee Ann City, Singapore): Blind tastings are a great leveller. I have never been a real fan of Louis Latour Corton-Charlie's but this was actually surprisingly good. The first of a quartet of 1995 wines, it still had quite a bit of oak on the nose for a 20 year old wine, with sweet vanilla accents framing otherwise complex aromas of honey and spice, stone fruit and mineral. Very nice, if a bit in your face. The palate was very good too. It had a nice roundness on the attack, with fleshy white fruit and a touch of citrus peel then leaning out into a beautifully juicy midpalate and a mouth-staining finish, full of kumquat peel and stony mineral notes. There was a lot of flavor and a lot of ripe roundness here, but it also had an aggressive edge to it, with the fruit and acidity all coming across a bit pronounced at points. It was nice though, and given it a couple of year to integrate further, and it should be even better. Less subtle than my favourite wines of the night, but very good.
April 15, 2015 - International Wine and Food Society Dinner (goosefoot - Chicago IL): I was able to try this from 3 different bottles from the same case. All had been open for several hours. The first had been double decanted. Its dark golden color made me think there would be a problem, and in fact this was very advanced and tired, but still tasty. The second bottle had not been decanted. It was similarly hued, but slightly more fresh. The third bottle also hadn't been decanted, was brighter colored and substantially better than the other two. Buttered popcorn and ripe apple everywhere with good length, this was a 90 point bottle.
January 24, 2015 - tawny hints; low acid and smooth; very complex group of flavors; enjoyed with a pork ragu;
can imagine what this might have been 5 years ago.