White Burgundy is well liked and admired by your scribe. It covers a wide area from northerly Chablis to southern Maconnais with the heart of the most expensive in the region being the Cote de Beaune. On this Blog we often have discussed in detail my particular favs of Chablis Les Clos, Meursault Perrieres, and Chevalier Montrachet. Also, I am a big admirer as well of Corton Charlemagne, a wine that truly captures power with a stony acidity balance which can age spectacularly. Fortunate to taste many very old ones especially from the late 1920s (before pre-mox vintages) and though are quite variable as expected have provided some of the greatest complex white Burgundy ever experienced. However, today it is even more risky to wait decades to open them.
Corton Charlemagne with that famous hill has many producers led by the Top Five of Louis Latour (10+ hectares), Bonneau du Martray (6 1/2), Bouchard Pere (nearly 4), Domaine Rapet (3+) and Romanee-Conti (nearly 3). One of the smaller owners we cherish is Tollot-Beaut based in Chorey-Les-Beaune but with a tiny .24 hectares of Corton-Charlemagne vines in east facing Les Renardes planted on chalky marl back in 1956. During the seventies and eighties during many visits to Burgundy we usually stayed in a Gite de France rental nearly next door to this winery and visited them several times. Always impressed by the dedicated quality wines of the Tollot family (back to 1880), the old historic cellars, and the limited production of only one or two barrique Bourgogne (now more like 5 and aged 18 months in 60% new oak) of their Corton-Charlemagne. The C-C was not available in Canada but was discovered first by Frank Schoonmaker for export to the USA and discovered by us in Portland Oregon through the Al Giusti Wine Merchant. Enjoyed many younger vintages showing textbook appellation signatures of lively tension filled acidity balance with a unique terroir. Especially found that the 1979 & 1985 vintages aged well over time and we opened our last bottle of each last week. First night was the elegant 1979 CORTON-CHARLEMAGNE TOLLOT-BEAUT that displayed a deep golden colour with rich sweet flavours paired with a tomato lasagna dish. Enjoyable but a maderizing bottle that didn’t have enough fruit remaining that was so prominent in the earlier ones. Should have opened years ago when singing at its best.
Second night was 1985 CORTON-CHARLEMAGNE TOLLOT-BEAUT matched with a wild Alaska Sockeye salmon that was sensational. Reminiscenced back to my days as Chair of the IWFS Wines Committee with some of our most spirited debates ever among John Avery, Michael Broadbent, Clive Coates, and myself about the merits of 1986 vs 1985 white Burgundy ratings. I supported 1985 ripe creamy structured staying power (1985 Meursault Charmes Francois Jobard) while 1986 less clean, often heavy with much botrytis (memories of Sauternes-like 1986 Meursault Poruzot Francois Jobard). This 1985 C-C T-B is still fresh enough fruit fleshy from the naturally higher acidity of the site yet marvellously mature smooth very complex bouquet and textured flavours. Best white Burgundy we have tasted so far this year. Sublime purity. That’s what aged white Burgundy is all about! Hope you have had or will have this experience! Good luck.
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