Why is Corton so inexpensive?

Just curious why Corton is so inexpensive relative to other Burgundy Grand Crus?

Supply & Demand

Supply: largest GC vineyard in Burgundy

Demand: Style and quality. Drink some side by side with VR GCs and taste the difference.

There are those that argue it should have never been classified GC for the reds.

Does that mean it’s the best value GC or the worst value?

How about Corton that is very far from inexpensive? I drank the ‘91 Leroy last month, which was a massive kaleidoscope of flavors and far from full maturity. Haven’t (and likely never will) taste the new DRC version. Is it significantly better right from the start, and if so why do people think that is?

Depends on your metrics. But pricing tells you a lot (Leroy and DRC aside).

Better is relative. DRC’s viticulture and wine making typically results in excellent wine regardless of the vineyard or vintage. But it’s still from Corton.

But this is really a whole different discussion of whether you really can discuss quality or value at the vineyard level. There are always great producers making great wine from grapes in the same vineyard that other producers are making not-great wine. There are more expensive and less expensive bottles of wine from the same vineyard. There’s too many variables to quantify the entire vineyard of Corton as a “good value” or “not good value”.

“Inexpensive” mainly because it’s a pinot noir from the Cote de Beaune, with high level of availability. Also widely written that a lot of Corton is not grand cru level, which affects the hype.

Andrew,
This issue may already have been discussed to death over the years, but it is of particular interest in the quality of Corton when DRC acquires property there and starts from scratch. You can easily invoke the terroir of R-C and La Tâche as the fundamental and un-reproducible reason for the surpassing greatness of these wines. But I am not aware that Aubert de Villaine has any carefully protected trade secrets about the way he makes his wines. Do DRC’s methods involve such tremendous expense that it would be impossible for whoever owns the plot of Corton next to theirs to imitate them and produce a significantly better wine?

Thanks for your thoughts.

I wouldn’t say DRC wines are that ridiculously expensive from the cellar door, so I highly doubt expensive methods have anything to do with it. I don’t think in general there’s necessarily anything one producer does that another one can’t also. But there’s still knowledge and trade secrets and particular methods that one learns over time that may be different from another. And those skills take time to learn and teach others and implement, and time is money. These are just some factors I see.

It’s never more obvious than when you see pictures of the grapes of different owners in the same vineyard. William has posted some great pics, recently of RSV, which shows the amazing viticulture of DRC compared to some other producers. Then of course you have the harvest choices and methods, winemaking choices, barrels, bottling methods, corks, etc, etc, etc. It’s no wonder different producers command different prices and the wine quality is very different.

Most has been written above:

• Corton is the largest Grand Cru (160 ha) - so widely available
• not alle sites are on Grand Cru level
• there are a lot of mean producers - and only few on top level
• Corton needs A LOT of time in the cellar - nothing for the impatient consumer. Wines from 1955, 1959, 1964, 1971 were super,
  1990 still young
• even when at it´s best it rarely shows the finesse and complexity of a fine Cotes-de-Nuits Cru, it´s usually a bit hard and foursquare

When buying DRC or Leroy Corton you are paying for DRC and Leroy, not for Corton.
I had DRC once: an outstanding wine, but I still prefer a lot of Vosne or Chambolle 1er Crus from fine producers, so not worth the money for me
Never had the Leroy Corton, but quite a lot other Leroys, so it might be better still

This might be controversial in some circles still, but I still think in Burgundy it is producer over terroir. The best producers can make even mediocre plots tastes extraordinary and there is nothing that the less talented producers can do even in the best vineyards. A number of examples come to mind, but I am keeping them to myself!

With the exceptions already noted, I tend to not buy anything from Corton. You are still going to pay Burgundy premiums and I would prefer drinking from almost any other of villages. There is a rusticity to the wines for the most part that is just not what I am looking for when I am drinking Burgundy.

FWIW, I’ve had several vintages of DRC Corton and they’ve been across-the-board superb and certainly “real DRC”

DRC farmed the vineyard before just taking over and producing their first vintage the first year they farmed it. Tried the inaugural vintage and a couple more…it has always been an outstanding Corton as DRC is excellent at tannin management and their viticulture practices produces ripe fruit that doesn’t have that typical iron flavor so many young austere Corton producers have.

Jadot Corton Pougets is an excellent value too.

Worth noting that the grand cru part of Corton was expanded in early 1943 when it looked as if the Germans were going to start compulsory purchases of anything that wasn’t classified as superior in the AOC system. A few months later, the idea of creating a “premier cru” AOC was envisioned and executed, so most other places didn’t expand their grands crus quite so dramatically.

So, then, was this the impetus for creating 1er Cru? Or was it just one of various factors?

Yes, absolutely! That’s why the occupied zone got premiers crus everywhere (e.g. Montagny); whereas the Mâconnais, in Vichy France, didn’t.

The idea that there is a hierarchy of sites in Burgundy goes back a long way, of course, but the premier cru classification is very much the most recent and most hastily added layer of it.

What parts of Corton should be grand cru and what parts premier cru? https://yourwineiq.com/kindsofwine/winebyregion/europe/france/burgundy/cotedebeaune/cortonareas/corton.html I am thinking Le Corton, Clos du Roi and Bressandes would be Grand Crus and probably Pougets, Renardes and Clos des Cortons. Anything else?

Fascinating!