2011 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Pierre-Yves Colin did a long pressing of the grapes in 2012 and then hardly any cold settling of the must, starting with less of the gross lees and then avoiding lees-stirring.The wines, he told me, were less protected by SO2 at the time of my annual visit than the 2011s had been a year earlier.The 2012s are thicker and richer than the 2011s, with yields generally down 20% in the newer vintage.The 2012s I tasted at the beginning of June had finished their malos at least a month before my visit and had been sulfited, but a number of other 2012s at this address were still in the middle of their secondary fermentations and not ready to be shown.As part of his efforts to prevent his wines from prematurely oxidizing, Colin uses wider, untreated corks, always makes his last sulfur additions two months prior to bottling so that the wines are stable, and uses beeswax on the capsules to seal the corks.He has also gone largely to 350-liter barrels:they account for about 80% of his annual production of roughly 60,000 bottles. (A Daniel Johnnes Selection, www.danieljohnneswines.com; imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, www.skurnikwines.com and Atherton Imports, www.awiwine.com)

It's always great to sit down with Pierre-Yves Colin and run through what has grown to be one of the most impressive collections in Burgundy. Unlike most of his colleagues, Colin prefers long elevage for his top wines, and strictly in oak. "Letting wines sit in steel for 6 months is not elevage" he adds emphatically. Colin prefers slightly larger 350 liter barrels for most of his wines. As impressive as the Colin Burgundies are, they do need quite a bit of air if opened young. The 2011s have come a long way since I tasted them last year. In 2011 the malos were done by the end of October, which is unheard of, the result of cellars that stayed warm in the weeks following the harvest. Today, the 2011s are striking. Some will drink well early, while others need a bit of bottle age. Otherwise, its hard to go wrong with any of these beautiful, handcrafted whites.

Pierre-Yves Colin probably best articulated what is my own nagging doubt about the 2011 vintage.When explaining why he racked his wines exposed to oxygen in late April, he told me that he did it "because some of them were flat and boring.The racking gave them more personality and energy."He planned to rack again at the beginning of July and move the wines to tank."After September 4, the fruit lost a bit of its water," Colin explained."The grapes didn't gain in sugar but they did gain in concentration.But the fruit wasn't really that ripe in 2011.In retrospect I would have picked even later for more concentration of flavor; I would have started on September 7."Still, Colin was feeling better about the vintage at the end of May than he was last fall."I'm only starting to understand the wines now," he told me."I thought they would be like the 2007s and 2004s for their good fruit, but the malos took place very early--by the end of October--and that fresh quality is just coming back now." (A Daniel Johnnes Selection, www.danieljohnneswines.com; imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, www.skurnikwines.com and Atherton Imports, www.awiwine.com)