2016 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Viticulturist Jérôme Flous considers 2016 to be an excellent vintage for red wines but he’s not sure that the whites have enough dry extract—or minerality—to be special. “It’s a good vintage, but not for long aging,” he told me at the beginning of June. “I’d advise waiting five years, then drinking them fairly quickly. I’d rather invest in 2017 for my children.“ Acidity levels were slightly lower in 2016 than in 2017, he went on, and the grape clusters in ’17 were smaller.

Tasting here in early June was an adventure as very few of Faiveley’s 2016s had finished their malolactic fermentations. The company was in the middle of a major cellar renovation last winter, and with much of the roof open to the elements, the cold air descended and the cellars were considerable chillier than they usually are during the winter. On the other hand, Erwan Faiveley noted that because the levels of malic acidity in the grapes were low in 2016, the secondary fermentations were having little impact on the wines, other than perhaps introducing some transient oxidative aromas.

Technical director Jérôme Flous described 2016 as “a hot, heterogeneous, rich vintage, not very mineral—a cousin of 2015 but with less concentration.” It was also a very strange vintage, he went on. “Two thousand sixteen may be closest to 2009, which was the only time we picked at the end of September without adding a gram of sugar."

“The leitmotif of the vintage is balance more than concentration or minerality, as with the 2009s,” added Erwan Faiveley, who believes that the ‘16s will be soft and creamy—“easy to drink but with good complexity.” The wines will probably not be bottled until next February or March.