2010 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

The top 2010 Red Burgundies are now virtually impossible to find, so it was a real treat to taste these nine gorgeous, reference-point wines together. The goal of this seminar, which I curated at Pebble Beach Food & Wine, was to highlight a number of Burgundy’s finest terroirs ands most representative producers. I was joined on the panel by Master Sommeliers Larry Stone and Alan Murray, and winemaker Rajat Parr. All of the wines showed exceptionally well in what turned out to be a fabulous morning filled with great Burgundy and equally stimulating conversation. For more background on the wines, readers might enjoy this short video I shot just before the tasting. As Burgundy fans know, the 2010 growing season did not get off to a great start. A devastating winter frost killed a number of vines, especially in the low, flat-lying sectors close to the Route Nationale. Poor weather during flowering caused significant issues with coulure and millerandage. Conditions improved markedly during the last few weeks of the season, always the most critical time of the year. The 2010s combine excellent maturity levels from naturally occurring low yields with lively acidity that is the result of a long, cool growing season. Most importantly of all, the wines are highly site-specific. At their best, the 2010s are stunning wines that capture the essence of what makes Burgundy so thrilling. For more on 2010, readers might enjoy taking a look back at my initial thoughts on the vintage and wines.

Veteran winemaker Jacques Lardiere, who will be retiring at the end of the year after vinifying one last harvest, has always marched to the beat of his own drum when it comes to winemaking, and has been a frequent contrarian on the subject of vintages.So it should not have been surprising at the end of my late spring tour when Lardiere stated that "there's very little acidity in the 2010s (!); they're all acidified."I assume that Lardiere left a good bit of malic acidity in his 2011 whites ("we don't block the malo; we disturb it by racking and adding a bit of SO2 at exactly the right time"), but as the malos and elevage are typically late and slow in this cellar, I will wait to taste these wines from bottle next year.Jadot's 2010s have turned out very well:Lardiere called them "a good surprise," noting that he did not like the wood influence in the early months and that the wines did not absorb the oak until April, when the malos were starting.He kept much more malic acidity in the 2010s than he had in the 2009s, and as of the end of May he thought that the 2010 vintage would close up less in bottle than the 2009s or 2008s. Also recommended:2010 Santenay Clos de Maltes (86).

Once again, I tasted with Jacques Lardière and Frédéric Barnier during a marathon session that lasted several hours. Lardière has been on a whirlwind tour celebrating his last year at Jadot before his long-announced retirement, but I will believe he is stepping down when I see it. Lifers like Lardière simply don't retire. As for the wines, Jadot's 2010s are unqualified successes across the board. Of course, the wines from the most prestigious appellations are often compelling, but frankly I find just as much joy in discovering the many fabulous Burgundies from unheralded villages that are sprinkled throughout this portfolio. Lardière and Barnier first thought 2010 was better for reds than whites, but that gap has narrowed recently in their opinion. Yields were down 15-20% for the whites (less than the reds), because of the December, 2009 frost and irregular flowering the following spring. A number of wines were chaptalized approximately 0.5%. The 2010 whites were bottled between February and March 2012. I also tasted a handful of 2009s and 2008s, which I have included here as part of my goal to revisit wines from bottle on a regular basis. I continue to be thrilled by the Jadot 2009 whites, while the 2008s I tasted are mostly equally succesful. Jadot fans know that this venerable winery is composed of several brands; Maison Louis Jadot, Domaine Louis Jadot, Heritiers de Louis Jadot, Domaine Duc de Magenta and Domaine Gagey. In the interest of simplicity, I have listed all of the wines in this section under Domaine/Maison Jadot. There are two cases in which a wine is made by more than one of the labels, in which case the corresponding tasting note indicates which wine was tasted; they are the Chassagne-Montrachet premier cru Garenne and the Puligny-Montrachet premier cru Folatières.