Aloxe Corton
These two Grand Cru vineyards, Corton and Corton-Charlemagne, lie astride three villages at the northern end of the Côte de Beaune: Ladoix, Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses. The main body of the hill of Corton faces due south, with the white wines mostly coming from the west and south-west expositions. Corton is almost entirely red but there are a few white wines too.
These two Grand Cru vineyards, Corton and Corton-Charlemagne, lie astride three villages at the northern end of the Côte de Beaune: Ladoix, Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses. The main body of the hill of Corton faces due south, with an extended flank exposed to the east, and another facing westwards. The white wines mostly come from west and south-west expositions, along with a narrow band around the top of the hill.
The Emperor Charlemagne owned vines here in the eighth century, and legend has it that his wife insisted he planted white grapes so as not to spill red wine down his beard and clothes. Corton-Charlemagne is always white and there is also a theoretical Grand Cru appellation called, simply, Charlemagne, which is never used. Corton is almost entirely red but there are a few white wines too.Ladoix is a rarely-seen appellation, as most wine here are sold as Côte de Beaune Villages. Aloxe-Corton is better-known, but as with Ladoix the best vineyards have been designated as Corton and Corton-Charlemagne.
There are also 25 lieux-dits that may be used on wine labels, together with Corton: Les Bressandes, Les Chaumes, Clos des Meix, Clos du Roi, Les Combes, Le Corton, Les Fiètres, Les Grèves, Les Manguettes, Les Maréchaudes, Le Meix Lallemand, Les Paulands, Les Perrières, Les Pougets (Pougeots), Les Renardes, La Vigne au Saint, Les Basses Mourottes, Les Carrières, Clos des Cortons Faiveley, Les Grandes Lolières, Le Rognet et Corton, La Toppe au Vert and Les Vergennes.
- 90 hectares of village Aloxe-Corton
- 38 hectares of Premier Cru Aloxe-Corton
- 118 hectares of village Ladoix
- 14 hectares of Premier Cru Ladoix
- 72 hectares of Corton-Charlemagne. The finest from En Charlemagne (Pernand) and Le Charlemagne (Aloxe)
- 160 hectares of Corton. The best from Clos du Roi, Bressandes, Pougets
Prices:
Bottle
£29.95
Bottle 12 x 75cl6cs
Light ruby in colour with a pretty, delicate nose of dried berries, earth and floral notes. Chewy tannins and a firm backbone of acidity make this extremely appetising. The right dish – I’m thinking roast pheasant – will render it more pliant and expressive, and bring its class into relief. Drink now to 2018.
Will Heslop - Wine Buyer, March 2017
Bottle
£33.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl3cs
Franck Follin-Arbelet reports a relatively small crop, after a difficult flowering (too hot and dry) and some hail in Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton. Nonetheless the grapes resisted the damp middle of the summer well and ripened properly at the end. Harvest began on 13th September and though the sorting table was needed to remove hail damage and dried grapes, the results here are very successful in 2014.
Case price (Bottle 6 x 75cl)
Bottle 6 x 75cl78cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Franck Follin-Arbelet’s domaine, based in Aloxe-Corton, makes its first appearance in our En Primeur for the 2012 vintage. He doesn’t own many vineyards, and they aren’t in the trendiest part of the Côte, but he makes sublime wines in a very pure, understated style. As a child Franck spent holidays in the village, then worked part-time in the vineyards, in due course marrying a local girl whose family had some vineyards – enough for Franck to set up as a vigneron in 1993, subsequently adding further vines through rental agreements. Overall his 2012 crop was down by 30% to 50%.
Bottle
£43.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl35cs
“A vintage of pure happiness,” enthuses Nicolas Potel. He rightly retains enthusiasm for Burgundy as a whole and his own wines in particular, though his life has been made more difficult by the explosion of prices for grapes on the open market. However these cuvées make sense to us: we tasted a wide range and picked out the plums.
Bottle
£59.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl40cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The vintage began here on 6th October, once again being short on quantity but with good qualitative potential. Thibault feels that the 2013s can take a long barrel ageing, perhaps up to 24 months. He is using fewer lees, but finer, in order to avoid too many reductive problems.
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl3cs
Thibault has made a fine and elegant range of 2014s, with little sign of the reduction which has sometimes prevailed here in the past. He has employed a fair proportion of whole-bunch fermentation, sending a crack team of pickers into the vineyards ahead of the rest to select the healthiest bunches. Another interest at the moment lies in finding the perfect toasting for his barrels, often choosing a minimal approach. We shall also be making a separate offer of Thibault’s brilliant 2014s from his Moulin à Vent estate.
Bottle
£65.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl21cs
Fergus Stewart, Private Account Manager
The excellent mid-palate of this Clos du Roi has more structure than Camille Giroud’s Le Rognet, and displays a fine, sweet, fruit finish with some black cherry notes. Every year this is an exceptionally fine cuvée and this 2011 continues the impressive run.
Jasper Morris MW - Burgundy Director
These are brilliant wines once again from David Croix and his team at Camille Giroud and fortunately they were able to make a little more wine this year than last. Alhough the white selection is small, the wines are just as fine as the reds. David has made some inspirational wines from less fancied appellations such as Maranges and Santenay, as well as majoring on the Grands Crus of Corton and the Chambertins. Almost all of the wines are from purchased grapes, but somehow Camille Giroud feels to us much more like a domaine.
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl9cs
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director These are brilliant wines once again from David Croix and his team at Camille Giroud and fortunately they were able to make a little more wine this year than last. Alhough the white selection is small, the wines are just as fine as the reds. David has made some inspirational wines from less fancied appellations such as Maranges and Santenay, as well as majoring on the Grands Crus of Corton and the Chambertins. Almost all of the wines are from purchased grapes, but somehow Camille Giroud feels to us much more like a domaine.
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl4cs
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director David Croix has made some very striking wines in 2011. The vineyards have been improving under his care and to begin with, yields dropped as the vines acclimatised to the new regime but now they are where they should be. In the cellar, there is less intervention in the winemaking now, with shorter periods in vat and noticeably gentler extraction. A few more stems are added these days and new wood is used on around 15 to 20% of the wine. David started picking on Monday 30th August.
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl5cs
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl3cs
Jasper Morris MW, Berrys' Burgundy Director David Croix has made some very striking wines in 2011. The vineyards have been improving under his care and to begin with, yields dropped as the vines acclimatised to the new regime but now they are where they should be. In the cellar, there is less intervention in the winemaking now, with shorter periods in vat and noticeably gentler extraction. A few more stems are added these days and new wood is used on around 15 to 20% of the wine. David started picking on Monday 30th August.
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
The average yield across the domaine this year is 25 hl/ha, well below par, but not the catastrophe which was visited on some, and these 2012s are clearly David’s best wines yet. He found them easy to vinify, though they have required some careful management in barrel because they are so concentrated and compact. The grapes were completely healthy and showed the best analytical balance one could ask for, mostly between 12.5% to 13% alcohol and ideal acidity to preserve freshness.
Bottle
£75.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl13cs
Bottle
£77.50
Bottle 6 x 75cl9cs
Bottle
£85.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl13cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
David Croix picked relatively late for his reds, from October 3rd to 16th, but he wisely took the whites in first from 29th September to 2nd October. Overall he has been able to source more wine than for the pitifully small 2012 crop. These are beautiful wines, a marvellous expression of Pinot Noir, suited for medium term keeping.
Bottle
£85.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl7cs
Bottle 6 x 75cl2cs
Franck Follin-Arbelet reports a relatively small crop, after a difficult flowering (too hot and dry) and some hail in Pernand-Vergelesses and Aloxe-Corton. Nonetheless the grapes resisted the damp middle of the summer well and ripened properly at the end. Harvest began on 13th September and though the sorting table was needed to remove hail damage and dried grapes, the results here are very successful in 2014.
Bottle
£85.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl8cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
Franck Follin-Arbelet’s domaine, based in Aloxe-Corton, makes its first appearance in our 2012 En Primeur offer. He doesn’t own many vineyards, and they aren’t in the trendiest part of the Côte, but he makes sublime wines in a very pure, understated style. As a child Franck spent holidays in the village, then worked part-time in the vineyards, in due course marrying a local girl whose family had some vineyards – enough for Franck to set up as a vigneron in 1993, subsequently adding further vines through rental agreements. Overall his 2012 crop was down by 30% to 50%.
Bottle
£95.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl2cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Sylvain began to pick his 2013s on 30th September. Some whites have been in bottle since early July, and some reds may also be bottled a little earlier than usual. Sylvain doesn't see a long elevage this year as he wants to avoid the whites becoming too fat. The reds have 10 to 20% whole bunch fermentation.
Bottle
£110.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl18cs
Bottle
£110.00
Bottle 12 x 75cl5cs
This year we have asked Sylvain to blend his two vineyards, Le Corton and En Charlemagne, as we found this made a more exciting and complete wine than the two components apart. The blend shows beautiful fresh fruit with a lovely touch of coconut. Fresh and attractive behind, with a very agreeable and very persistent finish.
Bottle
£110.00
Frédéric Weber has taken over prime winemaking responsibilities from Philippe Prost. He shares with his predecessor the ability to talk eloquently about his wines, with an excellent knowledge of each terroir. One change here is the increasing use of whole bunches during fermentation, though more in the Côte de Nuits than Côte de Beaune this year. Overall, these are excellent wines.
Bottle
£110.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl7cs
Étienne de Montille began picking whites on 10th and reds on 13th September, relatively early. Despite the hail (worst in Pommard than Beaune, Volnay less) yields were slightly improved compared to 2013. The fruit was clean with small berries, and beautiful clusters, so they were able to continue with their usual programme of whole-bunch vinification in most instances. The details are given for each wine. They will be long lived wines.
Bottle
£115.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl2cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
The 2013 grapes were picked between 30th September and 11th October. The white skins were fragile so pressing was very gentle, the reds more robust and capable of a good proportion of whole bunch fermentation. Most wines are now in tank with bottling a little earlier than usual. An exceptional range of reds in particular from Bouchard this year.
Bottle
£115.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl4cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Harvest began during the last week in September and finished just before the storm. There was less whole bunch vinification for the wines affected by hail, but Volnay Taillepieds, Pommard Rugiens, Corton Clos du Roi and the wines from the Côte de Nuits were all predominantly vinified with their stems.
Bottle
£115.00
Magnum 3 x 150cl1cs
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Harvest began during the last week in September and finished just before the storm. There was less whole bunch vinification for the wines affected by hail, but Volnay Taillepieds, Pommard Rugiens, Corton Clos du Roi and the wines from the Côte de Nuits were all predominantly vinified with their stems.
Bottle
£115.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl1cs
Bottle
£115.00
Jasper Morris, MW - Wine Buyer
Faiveley use three picking teams. Two started in the white wine vineyards on 28th September and were finished in four days. Then it was all hands to the red grapes. In general the harvest came in healthily, the hard work all year round in the vineyards paying dividends. We were once again very impressed.
Bottle
£165.00
Bottle 6 x 75cl1cs
Showing a fabulous light green tint in the glass, this wine has a fresh and stylish nose, with some depth to it. Lovely weight shines through on the palate, with the fruit sitting on a proper substratum of stones, all in excellent balance. This is a very distinguished Corton-Charlemagne.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director
Etienne de Montille thinks he has made brilliant 2011s and we are inclined to agree with him. They have freshness, balance, low alcohol, good acidity, excellent fruit and wonderful tannin integration. Picking began on 27th August and continued through to the 9th September as individual vineyards ripened. The fruit has attractively ripe flavours while rarely getting beyond 12.5% alcohol and Etienne chose to include slightly fewer stems than in recent vintages, except for the top Cuvées. Certain wines are available in magnum and double magnum formats, please contact us if they are of interest to you.
Jeroboam
£495.00
Jeroboam 1 x 300cl1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl1cs
Bottle 12 x 75cl1cs
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director
The average yield across the domaine this year is 25 hl/ha, well below par, but not the catastrophe which was visited on some, and these 2012s are clearly David’s best wines yet. He found them easy to vinify, though they have required some careful management in barrel because they are so concentrated and compact. The grapes were completely healthy and showed the best analytical balance one could ask for, mostly between 12.5% to 13% alcohol and ideal acidity to preserve freshness.