2013 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru

Wine Details
Place of Origin

France

Corton Charlemagne

Burgundy

Color

White

Grape/Blend

Chardonnay

Reviews & Tasting Notes

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Drinking Window

2020 - 2028

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The Drouhin family made just 5% of their normal production in Beaune Clos des Mouches in 2013 and barely more in 2014. But Philippe Drouhin noted that 2014 was back to a more normal crop except for Volnay, Pommard, Beaune and parts of Meursault. It was also homogeneous in quality. “Higher than normal acidity gives the wines tension and freshness, which people like,” he told me. “We won't be criticized this year for having flabby wines.”

The malolactic fermentations generally finished on the late side; all were done by the time of my late-spring visit but some had finished recently. The wines had been recently racked and sulfured. Overall, alcohol levels in the finished wines will be around 13%, noted Drouhin, adding that some cuvées were chaptalized. “Two thousand fourteen is an academic vintage for learning about Burgundy,” he summarized. “The wines are very precise to their terroirs.”

Philippe noted that winemaker Jérôme Faure-Brac is now skipping the earliest racking in barrel and doing much less batonnage. All of the 2014s are aging in 30% to 40% new oak but Philippe believes that there's better integration of the wood these days, thanks in part to a better selection of forests and three years of drying, with light toasting. Most of the barrels come from François Frères.

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Two thousand thirteen was a demanding year in the vineyards, summarized Frederic Drouhin at the beginning of June."The first half of September brought a lot of rain and cool weather that triggered botrytis and slowed the maturation of the grapes."Then good, warmer weather took hold from the 19th through the 28th and the family picked its Cote de Beaune vineyards during the first ten days of October--or almost exactly the same period as in 1978."There was 20% botrytis beginning on October 3 and the skins were pink," noted Drouhin."The Cote de Nuits was actually more of a challenge as the fruit wasn't very ripe and the berries started splitting after the rain of October 4."In the end, it's a very heterogeneous vintage for chardonnay, he added, with the yields and date of harvest being critical. Drouhin told me he found the wines austere in the early going.I was only able to taste a few of the finished 2012s as the Drouhins made tiny quantities of their Cote de Beaune wines and were extremely short of stock.