Tasted in Pernand with Jean-Charles le Bault de la Morinière, 03 November, 2015.

Bonneau du Martray
2 Rue de Frétile
21420 Pernand-Vergelesses
Tel: +33 3 80 21 50 64
www.bonneaudumartray.com

Jean-Charles on 2015:
“The harvest was a good time with nice weather; good grapes and a nice team but too early to talk of the wines. The reds provided a small harvest, the whites also, but less so.”

Jean-Charles on 2014:
“We had almost double the normal amount of rain in January and February and very mild conditions. March and April was again mild with lots of sunny weather. May was dry and sunny. It was particularly warm in mid June, reaching 35°C during the mid-flowering period. On the 28th June we lost 30% in 2-3 minutes due to the hail. The vintage had been promising quality and quantity up to then. We had to wait almost to the end of August for warm and settled weather to return. We picked from the 16th to the 21st September, the vintage delivering just over 26 hl/ha for the Corton-Charlemagne, and just under 26 hl/ha for the Corton.”

The wines…

Jean-Charles notes that these samples should be a good representation of eventual quality. The Charlemagne has been racked once, and will be racked a final time in March, or-so, for the bottling.

2014 Corton-Charlemagne
Deep, Starts deep with a faint herb – it’s a silky aromatic width that’s rather discreet below. In the mouth it’s silky, understated, wide and layered. The flavour is almost as discreet as the nose, but then the flavour begins to expand after you swallow. “It’s just a stage for me, the first stage is the first 12 months,” says Jean-Charles.

2013 Corton-Charlemagne
Bottled end of March.
Again there is an impressive width but otherwise discretion. Very slowly some agrume flavour. Large-scaled, fresh, incisive. Here the flavour leaches from your gums after swallowing. Mineral, ‘chiseled’ as the French would say. Delicate yet perfectly structured – beautifully persistent.

Le Rouge