2015 Corton Charlemagne

The 2015 Corton-Charlemagne, is like all of Lalou Bize-Leroy’s whites, a very serious wine that needs both cellaring and considerable aeration. Powerful, phenolic and bright, the 2015 is going to need at least a few years in barrel and a good bit of oxygenation when it is opened to allow some of the signature reduction to blow off. Citrus, lemon oil, white flowers and crushed rocks abound. The heat of the year has softened some of the wine’s youthful edge, but without marking it excessively.

The 2015 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru from Domaine Leroy opens in the glass with a bright bouquet of apple, lemon oil, wheat toast and smoke, framed by light reduction. On the palate, the wine is incredibly concentrated and intense, with a formidable structure and chalky extract that would be more familiar in a red wine and has a long, intense, almost searing finish. This was cropped at a mere 15 hectoliters per hectare, but while Chardonnay at yields like this can become overbearing, this Corton-Charlemagne—even in this sunny vintage—avoids any excess of weight or any trace of corpulence. It's built for the long haul.