2017 Chandon de Briailles Corton-Clos du Roi Grand Cru, Burgundy

This is simply one the great terroirs of the Corton hill. It’s a vineyard situated high on the Corton slope, with a soil rich in white Bathonian limestone. It’s these rocky origins, the high altitude (300 metres) and the SSE aspect of the site (ensuring ripeness) that combine to make this such a great terroir. Not without reason did Louis XI confiscate this vineyard for his own purposes! It remained as the Clos du Roi (the Clos of the King) until the French Revolution three centuries later. This wine came from just 0.4 hectares of millerandage-affected vines, planted in 1973, that produce tiny bunches and berries. This was fermented with 100% whole bunches in oak fermenters, with the cellar team gently pressing the fruit by foot only to manage the fermentation. Again the notes below tell you what you need to know.

“Aromas of rose hip and rose petals, blood orange, sweet dark fruits and raw cocoa introduce the 2017 Corton Clos du Roi Grand Cru, a full-bodied, satiny wine that’s beautifully fragrant and complete, with elegantly fine-grained structuring tannins and a pure, mineral-driven finish. As usual, it’s higher-toned and less gourmand than the fleshy Bressandes, but it’s the deeper and more serious wine, if only marginally.” 

“The brooding and all-but mute nose is comprised by softly spicy and once again markedly floral-scented aromas of red berries and newly turned earth, all of which is trimmed in a touch of wood. The sleek, intense and large-scaled flavors brim with minerality that carries over to the muscular and explosively lengthy finish. This is impressive and should make for a potentially great Clos du Roi.” 

“The vines are grown on white marl, sand and little stones, 60 year old vines, quite high up within Clos du Roi, hence it takes time for the grapes to ripen, and they retain higher acidity. The wine is a little deeper in colour than its siblings, was 100% vinified with whole bunches, just 4 barrels made. Really beautifully perfumed. This is sweet and seamless and just beautiful, with damask texture, beautiful ripe red fruit and a glowing aftertaste.”