Corton “Clos du Roi” Grand Cru Reviews

Good bright red. Ripe, sexy, slightly liqueur-like red fruits complicated by smoke and minerals. At once silky and penetrating, delivering excellent depth to its flavors of raspberry, game and earth. Finishes saline and reserved, with excellent cut and subtle length.

An adroit application of wood frames a strikingly broad ranging nose that features notes of violet, lilac, game, earth, smoke, spice, red currant, cassis and blue berry. The rich, intense and tautly muscular broad-scaled flavors display focused power and plenty of punch though there is less rusticity than is typical thanks to the relatively fine grain of the supporting tannins on the driving finish. This is excellent though note that it will require longer-term cellaring.

The 2010 Corton Le Clos du Roi explodes onto the palate with masses of dark fruit, smoke, incense and licorice. It boasts exceptional volume and depth in a rich, round style that caresses the palate from start to finish. The aromas and flavors build seamlessly to the huge, imposing finish. This is a dazzling effort from La Vougeraie. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2040. This is stunning set of wines from Pierre Vincent and Domaine de la Vougeraie. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail at this impeccably run domaine. No expense is spared. It takes 80 people to work the vineyards during harvest and another 20 in the cellar to take it from there. Production in 2010 was of course down significantly as it was everywhere else. Yields came in at 24 hectoliters per hectare for the Pinot and 29 for the Chardonnay. Vincent used between 30-80% whole bunches, depending on the wine. Readers who want to learn more might want to check out my video interview with Pierre Vincent on www.erobertparker.com. I will report on the domaine’s 2009s in the April issue. For now let me just say the 2009 Musigny is one of the wines of the vintage.

A spicy and distinctly earthy nose of ripe and very floral wild red berries also displays the pungent sauvage notes of a classic Clos du Roi. There is excellent mid-palate concentration to the palate staining broad-shouldered flavors that possess plenty of muscle and punch on the complex and terrifically long finish. This is a very serious effort that will require all of 15 years to come around and perhaps even a few more before all of the structure is fully resolved.

The 2009 Corton Le Clos du Roi (from 65-year-old vines) is elegant and subtle wine. Generous fruit radiates from the warm, open center. This is a totally classy wine that caresses the palate with silky tannins and impeccable grace. Here Vincent used a lower percentage of whole clusters (20%) than in a number of other wines, and employed 60% new oak barrels. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029. Biodynamic farming and non-interventionalist winemaking are at the heart of the approach at Domaine de la Vougeraie. The 2009s saw roughly a 25 days of maceration (including a week of cold soak) with one punch down a day. Once in barrel racking was kept to a bare minimum. A number of wines were bottled in late 2010 and early 2011. I tasted these wines with winemaker Pierre Vincent in March 2011.

Subtle spice, earth and the classic game notes add a layering effect to the very fresh and ripe red currant and cassis aromas that give way to a textured, intense and overtly muscular big-bodied flavors that are firm, powerful and palate-staining on the hugely long finish. This is an imposing but not ponderous effort that should require 12 to 15 years to arrive at its peak. 2021+