Charlemagne Grand Cru Reviews

Toasty and leesy, with generous minerality underlying apple, lime and citronella aromas and flavors. Sleek and well-defined, with a vibrant aftertaste of citrus, orchard fruit, stone and spices. Best from 2025 through 2037.

The 2015 Charlemagne Grand Cru is attractively delicate and youthfully reserved, wafting from the glass with notes of green apple, lemon cream and white flowers, more exotic notions of persimmon and spice emerging with extended aeration. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, taut and racy, with a bright line of acid, good concentration, and a long, vibrant finish. I expect more texture and dimension will emerge with a few years of bottle age, as the balance and persistence are very good.

This grows at a steep plot toward the top of the vineyard as it wraps around the Corton hill, facing south-southwest. The Boisset family has managed the property under biodynamics since 2001 and it shows in the bright burst of floral energy in the wine, offering up scents of chamomile and dandelions, subsuming its oak into an acacia scent. This is sleek in its succulent, pale richness, with the internal energy to sustain the wine for a decade or more.

The 2016 Charlemagne Grand Cru was showing some reduction on the nose, although there was a subtle peppermint scent that gradually eked out with aeration. The palate is lively and tensile with a crisp line of acidity, bright and vivacious with good density on the spiced finish. I adore the persistence here—a Charlemagne with great potential, perhaps one of the best ever produced from these parcels. Kingly!

Now labeled just “Charlemagne” sans its prefix, which its two plots are perfectly entitled to, the 2013 Charlemagne Grand Cru was 80% damaged by the hail storm, which equates to four barrels. It has a well-defined, lightly honeyed bouquet with fine definition and intensity. The palate is vibrant with convincing mineralité, just a touch of reduction lending complexity with very good weight on the sour-lemon finish. Excellent.

The 2015 Charlemagne Grand Cru has an attractive nose of apple blossom, cold granite and flint aromas, quite Puligny-like in style thanks to its surprising austerity. The palate is fresh and crisp with fresh lime, green apple and a lovely line of salinity towards the cohesive finish. Very good length here, even if there is not the complexity of the 2014 Charlemagne tasted from barrel last year.