2011 Corton Les Marechaudes

(bottled in mid-September): Palish bright red. Fruit-driven aromas of crushed cherry, cassis, licorice and menthol. Broad, rich, savory and dry, with saline and spicy elements adding interest to the red fruit flavors. In a rather feminine style, finishing with sweet tannins, very good length and noteworthy energy and perfume. This very gentle wine shows virtually no effect of the bottling, which is done here by gravity, with next to no addition of sulfur. In fact, Francois de Nicolay told me that free sulfur levels in his bottled wines range from 0 to 6 parts per million, with total sulfur just 25 to 35 ppm. The estate uses thicker corks to protect against premature oxidation.