2012 Corton Charlemagne

The 2012 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which comes from lieu-dit “Les Languettes” was picked on September 19 and comes from their own vines, as it has for the last three vintages. Fortunately, there was no hail but the crop was still reduced by 50%, equating to three barrels in total. It already has an attractive nose, albeit one that is tightly coiled at present, coveting its apricot and beeswax aromas, keeping them back for later. The palate is spicy on the entry with a fine line of acidity. There is lovely weight here, with quite a precocious, yet still tightly wound finish that suggests it deserves five to six years to really come around. Excellent. The matriarch of Maison Joseph Drouhin, Veronique Drouhin, escorted a group of writers and scribes through her 2012s in London, except for the Grands Echezeaux that happened to not be showing well. Hers were the only 2012s tasted outside Burgundy for this report, in respect of the miniscule quantities. Less for us critics: more for punters, even if it is a drop. The omnipresent story of depleted crops was the same here. In fact, 2012 is their smallest vintage for 50 years. “Everything that you think could happen, did happen,” rued Veronique in her fluent English. “We had frost, hail, storms and even sunburn.” There was some redemption though, a vital one too. “The only thing we did not get was botrytis and so the fruit was healthy. There had been a poor fruit set and a lot of coulure and millerandage. This meant the berries were small and not clustered close together, allowing good air flow between the berries and therefore inhibiting grey rot.” However, the unpredictable growing season proved challenging in the vineyard. “We are 100% organic, so we had to go over and over in the vines. We had to use natural responses to natural problems.” The 2012 vintage also demanded prudent approaches in the winery that could enhance the wines. “One of the most surprising things we found was that it took five to seven days for the fermentation to start. During this period you could extract some interesting things (color, polyphenols etc). Also, we found that the fruit had a long post-fermentation period of up to two weeks, which also benefited the complexity of the fruit. We also had a different approach to the vin de press. When we pressed the white grapes, we separated the end pressings. Using whole clusters means that the stems tend to increase the pH and the acidity goes much lower, which can dilute the cuvee. We had to separate the vin de presse and work each one differently. But in 2012 we did not include much of the vin de presse.” The vinification of such a small quantities springs its own set of problems; after all, you cannot fill all your barrels with marbles to keep them topped up. Fortunately, there was plenty of time to prepare because the February frost had burnt the buds. Poor flowering and fruit set early in the growing season meant that there was plenty of time to place orders for appropriately-sized barrels. “We used 500-liter barrels, which were very useful and similarly sized stainless tell vessels for the wines,” Veronique explained. “We hired a person who specializes in bottling small quantities. Jerome likes them (500-liter barrels) very much. They do not extract much, but they can make very elegant wines.” Perhaps one silver lining is that it has given producers such as Drouhin experience of using alternatively sized vessels that may be used in the future when vintages are more bountiful. At the end of the day, Drouhin have overseen another impressive set of Burgundy wines. While they do not possess the structure of the 2010s, the acidity levels are not dissimilar, although they seem to have more sweetness on the finishes. I concur with Veronique that two appellations that prospered in this vintage are Chassagne in the Cotes de Beaune and Chambolle in the Cotes de Nuits. In particular, the latter is very strong chez Drouhin in 2012, right down to the village cru. She also opined that Rully exceeded expectations, perhaps because the vines were so affected by hail in 2011 and strove to compensate in the following year. Here both the white and red come highly recommended and will probably represent good value. Prices are expected to rise, possibly 10-15% for the village and premier crus, 20% for the grand crus, although nothing had been set at time of writing. Importer: Dreyfus Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818-0770 and through several importers in the UK via Pol Roger UK Ltd.

(less than three barrels were produced, vs. a normal six): Pale green-yellow. Captivating high notes of lemon, lime, violet, lavender and white pepper. Densely packed and steely, with citrus peel flavors currently dominated by crushed-stone minerality. The oak here is very nicely integrated but this very tightly coiled wine is quite reserved today, finishing with a saline quality and a peppery hard edge.

A stunningly pure nose offers up notes of green apple, pear, white flowers and mineral reduction. There is superb density to the focused and intensely mineral-inflected flavors that are not as big and powerful as the ultra-low yields would suggest, all wrapped in a hugely long finish. 2012 is potentially a great vintage for this wine though note that patience will be required. Tasted: Jun 15, 2014. Drink: 2022+