The following 2012s were tasted in Aloxe-Corton, 21 March, 2014.
Bertagna, Corton Grand Lolières
Full but fine. Concentrated and focused dark red notes. Wide in the mouth and it grows wider still. Very good concentration and fine length. I find this rather good.
Denis Perin et Fils, Corton Les Paulands
Intense dark-red fruit aromas that seem full of energy. In the mouth there’s a nicely growing intensity. This is vibrant and quite concentrated. Lovely!
An assembly of Clos du Château and Renardes, due to such low yields.
Beautiful red-fruit nose, Round yet lithe. It’s a modest get growing mid-palate concentration, yet there’s a frankly brilliant extra dimension of flavour in the finish. I like this a lot!
Doudet, Corton-Marechaudes
High tones and herbs on the nose, underpinned with a beautiful dark fruit. Lithe, silky and concentrated with mouth-watering flavour. The tannin is in control of the finish, but this is very good.
Nudant, Corton-Bressandes
Deep, dark, crystalline dark fruit. Silky, lithe and linear. The fruit flavour is slowly growing around the edges. Fine mouth-watering flavour too.
Poissot Père et Fils, Corton-Bressandes
Fresh, gorgeous dark-red fruit – lovely. Wide with a fine velvet texture and growing concentration. There’s a lovely peak of mid-palate flavour too. Yum!
Cornu, Corton
High tones, a hint of coffee and eventually some herbs too – good depth here. Soft, supple, torrified flavour style but very tasty.
Maldant-Pauvelot, Corton-Renardes
largely high-toned and wide though slowly a little perfumed too. Full, round, quite silky and with ripe fruit – very good flavour dimension. Tastes much nicer than it smells.
Bouchard Père et Fils, Le Corton
Starts a little smoky. Nice width and super flavour intensity – really super. A little texture from the tannin though nothing astringent. Fine depth of flavour in the both the mid-palate and the finish.
Bruno Colin, Corton-Renardes
The nose seems a little estery. Round, modestly concentrated – it’s easy to drink and the flavour is fine – but far from my vision of great Corton.
des Croix, Corton La Vigne aux Saint
Deep, crunchy, dar-red fruit. The palate has super width if not super depth. Lovely lingering flavour, though the flavour is modest when compared to the structure. Good wine to wait for.
des Croix, Corton-Grèves
Wide, with limited aromatic depth and a little spice too. Ripe, sweetness of fruit and a little textural padding. The flavour is much more mineral than many here. Fine fresh fruit to finish though.
Simply gorgeous, floral inflected, fruit – beautiful! Round, concentrated, fine tannin and a growing quantity of fruit. This is a lovely, lovely wine.
The nose is deeper, darker and more virile – slowly there emerges a beautiful fruit here too. Fuller and rounder with tons of mid-palate concentration. Lovely wine again!
Maurice Chapuis, Corton-Languettes
A wide, interesting and quite pretty nose. Wider than you expect after the nose, growing concentration. This is a lithe and pretty wine that opens up even further in the finish, showing plenty of fresh flavour.
Cachat-Ocquidant, Corton-Clos des Vergennes
A tight core of concentrated fruit on the nose. Big, with good structure – plenty of lithe and direct personality here. Some licorice in the finish. It’s a bit more barrel than fruit flavour, but it seems quite good.
Joseph Drouhin, Corton
High-toned red fruit – it’s quite a friendly nose. Friendly in the mouth too, but with growing intensity in the mid-palate and finish. A wine that belies the easy starting impression…
Gaston & Pierre Ravaut, Corton-Hautes Murottes
A gorgeous nose-full of sweet, welcoming raspberry fruit. Good, round shape with fine and ripe tannin and a very pretty red berry fruit. Perfectly ripe in 2012!
Gaston & Pierre Ravaut, Corton-Bressandes
Again, lovely, clear-as-a-bell fruit on the nose – though just a hint darker and more concentrated. More structure but again hardly a thing that you’d call astringent. Lovely and mouth-watering in the finish. Yum!
Pierre Guillemot, Corton Le Rognet et Corton
A width of fine red fruit. Silky and faintly salty and just a faint astringency. A mineral, saline finish. Well-made and very refreshing – nice.
Pierre Marey, Corton
From a blend of three plots.
Floral but no stems. Wide and concentrated with good quality sweetly ripe fruit. The tannin slowly catches up though. Nice finish.
Antonin Guyon, Corton-Bressandes
The nose is deep and dark, yet a little uncommunicative. Plenty of structure here – a bit harshly extracted? The tannin is a is little bitter and peppery. certainly not a charmer. One to avoid young.
Antonin Guyon, Corton Clos du Roi
Here is a much nicer floral and fruit aroma. Silkier, finer fruit – overall a much better wine than the Bressandes – very good!
Capitain Gagnerot, Corton Grands Lolières
Here they’ve used the same plastic ‘corks’ (from Ardea) as Ponsot, but since 2004 – they are very happy so far.
Modest, but pretty red fruit on the nose. Friendly fruit in the mouth with a growing intensity and a faint salinity. Excellent finishing flavour – its best facet – lovely.
A prettier, indeed finer, fruit than the Lolières. More structure, deeper fruited palate. Yummy wine – really!
Capitain-Gagnerot, Corton-Renardes
Only modest red fruit on the nose. The wide palate has limited depth but there’s very good, mouth-watering fruit too. Just a hint of oak bitterness. Overall, quite nice…
Louis Jadot, Corton-Grèves
High-tones and herbs, fine fruit – super, complex nose. Quite round, nice enough ripe tannin but this is plenty long, long, long! I think this will be a lovely wine, but it’s far from super-friendly today.