Wine Advisor
Bouchard Pere & Fils, Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2016
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2016 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru comes from vines located just above Corton with east-facing orientation. It has an attractive, almost Meursault-like bouquet with traces of walnut and hazelnut. The palate is fresh and quite effervescent on the entry, with a fine line of acidity if not quite the persistence of the finest Corton-Charlemagne that I have tasted. Nonetheless, there is plenty of energy locked in here and it should age well.
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2016 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru unfurls in the glass with a youthfully tight-knit bouquet of crisp green orchard fruit, lemon oil, smoke and beeswax. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, delicately textural and incisive, with tangy acids, good concentration at the core and a long, precise finish. With its racy profile, this is built for the cellar.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2016 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru unfurls in the glass with a youthfully tight-knit bouquet of crisp green orchard fruit, lemon oil, smoke and beeswax. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, delicately textural and incisive, with tangy acids, good concentration at the core and a long, precise finish. With its racy profile, this is built for the cellar.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Pale, bright yellow. Subtle floral lift to the aromas of lemon, lime, menthol and chalky minerality. Dense, tactile, dry and deep, conveying a solid impression without any heaviness. Citrus peel, lavender and subtle nutmeg flavors show lovely mineral firmness and grip for the year. There's a soil-driven chewiness here that's as much Corton-Charlemagne as the vintage, but no hard edges. Finishes with sneaky rising length, pungent citrus fruits and crushed-rock minerality. Really leaves the taste buds quivering. This surprisingly smooth Corton-Charlemagne is built for a graceful evolution in bottle; I'd lay it down for. I raised my score by a point four days later when the wine was every bit as penetrating, minerally and palate-staining but had been joined by some ripe notes of white stone fruits.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(almost finished with its malo; the alcohol here is in the high 13s, from a good-sized crop--about 35 hectoliters per hectare for both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir here--harvested on October 1): Pale, bright yellow. Smells chalky and deep if subdued, offering scents of apple, menthol and spices. Savory, tactile wine with a lovely touch of sweetness and an element of medicinal herbs. Very rich, layered, soil-driven wine with chewy extract and classic dryness. Quite full and ripe but very chalky throughout. A bit aggressive on the end, but then this wine still has some unconverted malic acidity.
