Tasted in Corgoloin with Vincent Bottreau, 18 April 2023.
Domaine D’Ardhuy
Clos Langres
21700 Corgoloin
Tel: +33 3 80 62 98 73
www.ardhuy.com
Other reports for Domaine d’Ardhuy.
Vincent on 2021:
“All the wines are bottled – since March. In terms of volume, it seems the worst but we actually made less wine in 2016 – 19 hl/ha in white, 23 in red – but with big swings of volume – particularly on the hill of Corton. We had a bit of everything, including the snow – there are no virtuous solutions to fight against the frost. Oïdium was perhaps the worst of the cryptogamic challenges. We actually finished our harvest with the Clos des Langres on the 30th of September. A vintage that’s more in the direction of freshness and elegance but the density increased during elevage – the density of the whites was more impressive than that of the reds. We changed a little our ‘production’ for the harvest – smaller cases for the harvested grapes and in the cuverie with a smaller pneumatic press and also a vertical press too. A couple of parcels were blended to make a red Côte de Beaune and there’s no Volnay – otherwise all the usual cuvées were produced. We extracted very lightly in 2021 – the phenolic maturity was lower than I would hope for – so we avoided doing pigeages.”
The wines…
Not an easy day to taste the reds as the Corvin almost seemed to emphasise the DIAM-reduction – if I’d had 5-10 more minutes with each wine, it would have been gone. But we clearly have another fine and consistent vintage from this domaine and on this day it was the whites that sang the most beautiful songs!
There’s no Corton Renardes – they had some grapes but honoured their sales contract instead of producing their own wine… The GCs with new bottles that allow 54mm length corks… For some whites, they may occasionally use a 49mm cork but with a disc of wax to top the cork. But when to finish with the wax(?) – it’s maybe 2-3 weeks before the (elastic!) cork finds its final resting shape/place in the neck of a bottle!
All the wines ‘opened’ with Coravin:
2021 Ladoix Dolia
Dolia – Amphora in Latin.
The nose starts a little savoury but opens up with more fruit and perfume with air. In the mouth – nice volume, silky texture – quite plump with pretty red fruit. Delicious finishing – lovely here with its combination of flowers and fruit.
2021 Ladoix
A blend of multiple climats
The colour is a little deeper. This nose starts in a similar vein to the Dolia – savoury but opening with air to offer fine red fruit. More incisive and structured – darker red fruit on the palate – A very modest tannin – I love the faintly austere intensity of finishing flavour here – the last was ‘easier’ and more delicious finishing but this is more my style of wine.
2021 Ladoix Clos de Chaignots Monopole
This with a diam 5 haute de gamme, 2.35 hectares in Ladoix and a monopole chez Ardhuy
Again the savoury, faintly reductive start. In the mouth – there’s more material – a broader swathe of flavour and velvet texture – intense – more obviously concentrated. Lip-smacking finishing structure with some modest finishing bitters too – the most complete of these. Super wine.
2021 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Aux Clous
Cork. The biggest parcel of the domaine at 2.5 ha – over 1 hectare currently replanted. Narbantons also replanted and should return in 2022.
Again the diam reduction to start this nose – the fruit emerging – darker red in style. Sinuous, direct, a modest tannin but an almost juicy and attractive style to this fruit – a hint of structure but an easy-drinking and delicious wine.
2021 Ladoix 1er Bas Murottes
Still the reduction, but less – the fruit deeper here. Beautiful across the palate – a certain fluidity to this wine – deliciously complex and with fine energy – there’s some subtly attractive oak in this blend of flavours – simply an excellent wine of fine flavour precision – broad finishing too.
2021 Aloxe-Corton 1er Les Chaillots
The characteristic starting point but with a width of aroma that’s more pronounced and airy than the Mourottes. Hmm – broad and vibrantly energetic – subtly framed with some grainless tannin – the finish young and intense – an Aloxe that’s much less body-building than in many recent vintages – sweeping and fine – super wine!
2021 Corton Clos du Roi
2 parcels almost 1 hectare.
A little extra colour. Reduction again – the nose opening with more perfume. Mouth-filling but a calmer style – less overt energy but a classy volume and texture. The finish is not powerful but it is very long and attractive. Today a shy wine but with lots of class…
2021 Corton Pougets
In a good year two barrels!
The same reduction as all the reds but clearly a more vibrant aromatic here. More considered – depth and width at the base of these flavours – a mouth-watering style with delicious flavours washing over the palate. Then a small extra intensity of flavour after you finish – that’s really very impressive wine – super…
3.14 hectares.
A more vertical nose – faintly reductive, of course, but with a vibrant depth and becoming more open with air. Hmm – this is rather good – direct and energetic again – becoming juicy – super finishing intensity, slightly floral. Two years in a row – bravo!
2021 Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
Original vines from 1901…
Reduction – becoming more perfumed with air. Hmm – extra – beautiful depth – not quite layered but gorgeously melting flavour over the palate – that’s showing beautifully – simply excellent Vosne 1er – beautiful wine!
2021 Clos de Vougeot
A little more salinity in this width. Properly architectural – lovely structure – melting with flavours of intensity, modestly austere – but in the most positive sense – that’s a simply excellent CV – wait 10 years despite how disarmingly attractive it already is.
Les Whites…
Diam-style seal here. 1.12 ha above Savigny, two-thirds stainless steel elevage – the wood almost half new…
Hmm – that’s a bright and intense invitation – Juicy – citrussy – simply a wonderful Bourgogne – bravo!
2021 Ladoix Dolia Blanc
Amphora wine…
A larger nose – such volume – the impression of a little more ripeness to this citrus fruit. Lots of fruit, ripe too – almost a little exotic in style – but juicy, grapefruit-zesty even. Very good, fresh too but I easily prefer the Bourgogne…
2021 Ladoix Blanc
Blend of Combottes, Chaillots and Chagnots. DIAM5-sealed – a mix of stainless-steel and barrel elevage.
More depth, faintly the oak is present here too. I feel this is more attractively packaged though still with a suggestion of the ripeness of the last. Really very good, with a nice (and) wide wave of finishing energy.
A subtle reduction – a growing breadth of fine citrus – slightly accented towards the lime. Hmm – that’s simply lovely on the palate – a shimmering frame of juicy acidity and a stable core of flavour. I love the width of fine finishing flavour here – bravo!
Over 2 ha. Rognets et Corton high up, plus a parcel in Languettes and another in Pougets, and finally a tiny parcel in Carrières. Now with a wax disk between the cork and the capsule.
More freshness – still not fully open but it augers well. Hmm – larger scale again – more intensity too – growing and growing over the palate – there’s an almost chalky intensity and texture that adheres to the palate – that’s a wine to wait for but a potentially great one – it’s clearly excellent already.