How about Corton that is very far from inexpensive? I drank the â91 Leroy last month, which was a massive kaleidoscope of flavors and far from full maturity. Havenât (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?
Better is relative. DRCâs viticulture and wine making typically results in excellent wine regardless of the vineyard or vintage. But itâs 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. Thereâs too many variables to quantify the entire vineyard of Corton as a âgood valueâ or ânot good valueâ.
âInexpensiveâ mainly because itâs 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 DRCâs 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?
I wouldnât say DRC wines are that ridiculously expensive from the cellar door, so I highly doubt expensive methods have anything to do with it. I donât think in general thereâs necessarily anything one producer does that another one canât also. But thereâs 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.
Itâs 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. Itâs no wonder different producers command different prices and the wine quality is very different.
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.
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 moreâŚit has always been an outstanding Corton as DRC is excellent at tannin management and their viticulture practices produces ripe fruit that doesnât have that typical iron flavor so many young austere Corton producers have.
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 wasnât classified as superior in the AOC system. A few months later, the idea of creating a âpremier cruâ AOC was envisioned and executed, so most other places didnât expand their grands crus quite so dramatically.
Yes, absolutely! Thatâs why the occupied zone got premiers crus everywhere (e.g. Montagny); whereas the Mâconnais, in Vichy France, didnât.
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.