2000 Corton Charlemagne

The 2000 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is drinking beautifully today, offering up aromas of fresh peach, oatmeal, brioche, vanilla pod and a subtle top note of toasted sesame. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, pure and quite structurally open-knit, with an ample core of succulent, expressive fruit, juicy acids and a pure, bright finish. While 2000 is never going to rank as a historic vintage of Coche’s Corton-Charlemagne, it has the considerable merit of being fully mature and utterly delicious, and it surely ranks among the two or three white Burgundies of the vintage.

A year Jean-François loves. He thinks it is very flattering and lovely now. Pierre Troisgros pointed out that any sommelier who recommends it will find the table thrilled by its easy butteriness. Of all these vintages, this is perhaps the one that outperforms the vintage stereotype most conclusively. Lovely wine for now – perhaps without the absolute majesty of 2002 but very flattering and with much, much more structure and savour than most 2000s. Not the most concentrated and starting to be a little chewy on the end. The single vintage in which Coche-Dury seems to overperform compared with other Burgundy producers – many of whom have been affected by premature oxidation. (JR)