2014 Corton Bressandes

Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2014 tasting, the 2014 Corton Bressandes Grand Cru from Tollot-Beaut has plenty of vibrant blackberry and cranberry fruit on the nose, fine mineralité and just a touch of sous bois that surfaces with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very pure with sensual redcurrant and red cherries that fan out with gusto on the finish. This is a taste bud-pleasuring Corton-Bressandes that will offer a decade's worth of drinking, probably more. Tasted September 2017.

(from vines planted in the 1950s): Bright medium red, the darkest of this set of 2014s. Also the highest-pitched on the nose, offering scents of red cherry, raspberry, cranberry, spices and cocoa powder plus a minty topnote. Then silkier on the palate than the nose suggests, conveying very good savory concentration to its fine-grained flavors of red fruits, flowers and mint. Still a bit on the lean side for a young grand cru but with the finesse of the vintage. Finishes with lovely lingering spicy perfume. This very juicy wine needs time in the cellar to expand. There was some hail in this grand cru in 2014 but not in 2013, according to Nathalie Tollot-Beaut.