2011 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

After tasting hundreds of wines over the week, it was nice to spend some time with a few bottles and my closest inner circle, watch a little NFL football and forget about all the stresses of 2020, even if for just a little while.

Held this past February, La Festa del Barolo brought together producers, sommeliers and wine lovers from around the world for a memorable weekend of wine, food and conversation. Guests shared an unreal number of rare and collectible bottles at the Gala Dinner, while the 2012 Barolo Masterclass provided a great opportunity for attendees to taste new releases while hearing directly from the growers in an intimate and highly interactive setting. Del Posto proprietors Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich and their team pulled out all the stops to help make La Festa del Barolo a great success. Jeff Porter, Wine Director for the Batali & Bastianich group, and a group of this country’s top sommeliers did an exceptional job with wine service at all three events.

The June 30 hail was the most destructive storm here in 2012, resulting in crop losses of up to 60% in the family's holdings in Meursault Vireuils, Chevaliere and Rougeot, said Raphael Coche.Then on August 1, more hail cut the crop on the plain by 10%, with losses closer to 25% on the south side of Meursault (pinot noir yields in Volnay and Monthelie were off by 80%, according to Coche).Conditions then turned windy after the August 1 hail, and the affected grapes fell off the vines, an occurrence Coche described as quite rare.Coche Junior and Senior then harvested early, beginning on Sunday, September 16th.Rafael told me he prefers the whites to the reds in 2012:he finds the pinots a bit hard and lacking in finesse.By the way, the Coches will get an additional parcel of Corton-Charlemagne this year and will soon be able to double their production of this grand cru.Note that the labels here were updated as of the 2010s, except for the Corton-Charlemagne.Only a few of the 2012s were close to the end of their malos at the time of my visit, so I have published early notes on only a few of the more advanced cuvees.