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  • Grand Cru Southern Solo: Cornu's 0.5 Hectares of Corton-Bressandes

    Grand Cru Southern Solo: Cornu's 0.5 Hectares of Corton-Bressandes

    Corton is the largest (and only) red Grand Cru vineyard of the southern Côte de Beaune. 160 hectares wrap around this giant hill with orientations facing every direction except north - a rarity for Burgundy's primarily east-facing limestone slope.

    Here, Edmond Cornu's 0.5 hectares represents the massive hill in its most micro scale.Cornu is the ultimate foil for this Grand Cru with a graceful and lithe essence, as opposed to the customarily fruit-forward, robust personality.

    Today, I'm happy to offer the 2015 & 2012 Edmond Cornu Corton-Bressandes, along with my house Bourgogne Rouge, the 2016 Barrigards at $29 per bottle.

    Of the two dozen + named parcels of Grand Cru Corton, it's Corton-Bressandes whose southeast-facing, mid-slope placement is the sweet spot. Receiving ideal sun exposure and drainage are the key factors setting Bressandes apart from the other 143 hectares. Cornu has long been a favorite of Burgundy purists for their understated style coming from villages like Savigny, Chorey, Ladoix, and Aloxe. But, Corton-Bressandes is undoubtedly the magnum opus of the domaine.

    Cornu's 0.5 hectare slice of Bressandes walks that pristine line between ripe, luscious fruit and that backbone of mineral structure that's an essential element in grand cru age-ability. Cornu's Corton-Bressandes is 100% de-stemmed and aged in 30% new French oak.

    Each year, importer Neal Rosenthal imports less than 400 bottles of Corton-Bressandes to the US. While Cornu's Bourgogne Rouge has been a house Burgundy of mine for many years, the Corton-Bressandes is obviously reserved for special occasions, as well as dark corners of the cellar. There's only one Grand Cru red of the Côte de Beaune, and Edmond Cornu's is my first recommendation vintage after vintage.
    Posted by Alexander Rosen
  • Puligny-Montrachet & Meursault For the Ages

    Puligny-Montrachet & Meursault For the Ages

    Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, young and aged, today's list features top domaines that deliver pleasure tonight, as well as years of cellar transformation. Newer names on the block like Genot-Boulanger's Puligny 1er Folatières is a prime example of under-the-radar TOP wines of the village - sleek, mineral-driven, and supremely long finish, my favorite bottling of this domaine's brilliant range.

    Value hunters can see Joseph Colin and Jean-Marc Roulot's Bourgogne Blancs are in name only, as each sources exclusively from parcels in Puligny and Meursault, respectively.

    And, there's no shortage on top Grand Crus here from Ramonet, Leflaive, Roulot, and PYCM. 
    Posted by Alexander Rosen
  • 2016 Pierre Yves Colin-Morey: Grand and 1er Cru Allocation

    2016 Pierre Yves Colin-Morey: Grand and 1er Cru Allocation

    The great news is we have a first look today at Pierre Yves Colin-Morey's long-anticipated 2016 release of his Puligy, Chassagne, and Meursault cuvées - all now in stock. 2016 also marks the first-ever PYCM Pinot Noir releases from Vosne Romanée and Nuits Saint Georges' 1er Cru Boudots, which borders Vosne Romanée's 1er Cru Aux Malconsorts. The not-so-great news is that the small yields I was warned about when I visited with Pierre Yves in June 2016 is just as bad as we feared. This year's allocation is the smallest to date for me, but quality could not be higher.

    To order, please reply with your ideal order and I will do my best to accommodate 

    * Balanced order requests including the new Pinot Noir releases are very much appreciated.

    Visiting with Pierre Yves in July 2016 I got the sense the vintage was finally on course after a strange and difficult start. December through February was reported to be the warmest winter in over a century. March was cooler than normal, and the proceeding months saw damp conditions met with a disastrous frost on the morning of April 27th. As the frost set in, intense morning sunshine rose as a magnifying glass on these fragile, ice-covered buds. The result was literally explosive, as these small buds were wiped out in one morning. This is a large factor to why yields are smaller, and some bottlings (Mugneret-Gibourg Feusselottes) won't be produced at all in 2016.

    But, as we've discussed, the summer months dictated the quality of 2016, which is very high and favors expression of minerality over plump ripeness. In the end, we have whites and reds built upon energy and precision - 2010 was mentioned as a comparison by several winemaker friends after barrel-downs of 2016 concluded. 

    The whites are set more in the citrus camp than in stone fruit territory. They're certainly mineral-driven in style, but as Pierre Yves noted, they're riper than both 2004 and 2007.They show finesse and upfront drinkability seen from the 2011 whites, but are closer in style to 2010 (from the best producers) due to their greater concentration.

    The reds match the profile of the 2010 vintage even more so than the whites. There's a brilliant balance between ripeness and acidity. The easy generalization is to see the 2015 and 2016 reds much like we view the 2009 and 2010's. The 2009/2015 duo saw darker fruit, big ripeness, whereas the 2010/2016 pair is all about brightness and more red-fruited intensity with that supported framing acidity, one which I personally prefer!

    Additionally, the allocation of Caroline Morey's 2016's are being offered here today only for our mailing list.

    Posted by Alexander Rosen

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