2016 Corton Grand Cru

My January tasting of 2016s from barrel and 2015s from bottle at DRC was one of the most spectacular visits of my 30 years of tasting in Burgundy. Director Aubert de Villaine chose to present his 2015s first, possibly for fear that they might be tricky to taste following the theoretically more energetic 2016s. He needn’t have worried: both sets of wines are brilliant.

Both vintages, noted de Villaine, brought fully ripe fruit, and the ‘15s have even greater phenolic ripeness than the ‘16s. “But their tannins are nourishing,” he said, “and the wines are serene despite the bottling last March." He compared 2015 to 1966 in terms of the perfect health of the vineyards, adding that the estate saw no drought effect in ’15. “I don’t remember ever having this balance of fruit and plenitude and structure in my career,” said de Villaine. “The ‘15s will bury all of us.” It’s hard to believe that such rich wines will not shut down in bottle within the next few years, possibly for an extended period, but the ‘15s showed spectacularly in January.

So did the young ‘16s, in spite of the devastating effects of frost in the estate’s Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux holdings, not to mention its vineyards in Batard-Montrachet and, especially, Montrachet. But production of its other red grand crus showed little or no frost losses. Owing to the very warm temperatures that began in mid-July and well-timed rainfall in mid-August and early September, the estate considered its fruit ripe by September 15. But it held off on harvesting until the 22nd for its Corton vines and the following day in Vosne-Romanée, taking advantage of the precipitation between September 16 and 18 and picking during the most favorable window, finishing on the last day of the month.

Ultimately, said de Villaine, the quality of the tannins in 2016 may be even higher than in the previous vintage. The perfectly healthy grapes required very little sorting but the estate generally destemmed about 30% to 50% of their grape clusters; in comparison, the 2015s, with the exception of the Corton, were vinified with essentially 100% whole clusters. The 2016 malos were late and the wines had not yet been racked in January. The vintage, said de Villaine, is proving to be "extremely well balanced and a delightful surprise."

During my visit, I had the chance to wish a healthy and active next phase to long-time cellarmaster Bernard Noblet, who spent 37 years at this estate in a demanding and very physical role before retiring at the end of January at the age of 62.