Hill of Corton Evening

11 Apr 2013: First I must declare that the theme is a little misleading, as we only tasted Grand Cru wines from this marvelous hill. It would have been more appropriately named had we also included examples of the lively and minerally Pernand Vergelesses Premier Cru whites and those of the fleshy and floral reds, as well as wines from the other 2 villages.

My roasted quail in red wine sauce

We had this dinner at La Maison, Swatow Street, Wanchai which seems to have upped its game with the quality of food based on our most recent experience - Richard's deep fried cauliflower was really delicious, perfectly cooked, and dipped in mustard mayonnaise. Everyone's main course looked rather good. I was impressed by my quail with red wine sauce and Richard had a very decent medium rare steak. My neighbour's rack of lamb also looked deliciously pink!


As for the wines, we just had the corks pulled without decanting them in advance. We took our time to try them in sequence.


The trio of Bonneau du Martray Corton-Charlemagne


We started with 3 bottles of Corton Charlemagne by Bonneau du Martray from the vintages of 2008, 2006 and 1990. Both the 2008 and 2006 showed a bright pale lemon core. The 2008 immediately showed off its lush and oaky aromas of white flowers, pear and a hint of cinnamon spice, with smokey nuances. Mid weight palate, laced with mineral-infused flavours, lifted by racy acidity. Incredible purity, complexity, delineation, balance and long finish. A punchy wine that is going to live a long time! Perhaps best to enjoy this wine from 3 years' time. Simply marvelous! 18/20

The 2006 was expressive of its vintage characteristics, while retaining some of the Bonneau du Martray signature minerality. The nose was a little closed initially and opened up to reveal ripe notes of almonds, floral, toast, ripe apple, apricot and spice. On the palate, vibrant acidity and minerality accompanying the richness conveyed by the waxy texture and ripeness of fruit, giving sufficient lift to the rounded mouthfeel. A great balancing act in ensuring the co-existence of harmony, richness and weight - superb effort. Drinking well now with a long age ahead. 17/20

The 1990 was from a warm vintage. Deeper lemon in colour than the 2006 and 2008. This wine seemed less fresh and looser in structure than previous bottles that we tried. A mature bouquet of ginger, pear, acacia, toast, coffee, caramel and smokey notes. The acidity was evident without being racy and the mineral characteristics on the palate not quite present. Nice finish. 16/20

We had organised the reds into 5 flights.

Flight 1:



The 2002 Corton flight


2002 Château Corton-Grancey, Louis Latour: A blend of 4 different cuvees (Les Bressandes, Les Perrières, Clos du Roi and Grèves), not equally proportioned. Needed time to develop in glass (which sadly we didn't have as we needed to move to the next flight). Nose of gamey, savoury, plum, violet, herbal and underbrush. Supple mouthfeel, low-ish acidity level. A well balanced wine, with a nice finish, though lacking in concentration. 16.5/20

2002 Corton Clos du Roi, de La Vougeraie: A ripe and sweet fruity and spicy nose of plum, red cherry, raspberry, violet, cinnamon and nutmeg, with notes of game and earth. Vibrant acidity, ripe fine-grained tannin, giving this wine a lovely velvety texture, framing the beautifully ripe flavours. Lovely concentration and long finish. Quite atypical if you're looking for a rustic Corton style wine. Still rather youthful for its age. Drink now and over next 10 - 15 years. 18/20


Flight 2:



1998 Jadot Corton-Grèves

1998 Corton-Grèves, Louis Jadot: This definitely needed time! A meaty nose, with red cherry, plum and Chinese dried mushroom notes. Ripe but firm tannin with good level of acidity, with stony flavours. Good weight, well-delineated, if a little austere in style. Finish got better and better. I rather liked it! 17/20


Flight 3:



Faiveley Cortons

1995 Corton Clos des Cortons, Faiveley: Another austere wine. Not very generous on the palate. Leather and farmyard notes. Firm acidity. 16.5/20

1993 Corton Clos des Cortons, Faiveley: A very elegant expression of the Corton terroir. A wine that has aged rather gracefully, having shaken off its more rustic former self. Griotte, cherry stone, herbal, with earthy and mineral notes. The wine seems to have found harmony at this age. Lovely finish. 18/20




We didn't open the 1976 Leroy Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru


1993 Corton-Renardes, Leroy: A totally harmonious and elegant wine. A very distinct nose of bacon fat, savoury, liquorice, truffle, cinnamon, nutmeg with violet, prune, plums, blackberry compote, coffee and notes of caramel. (Someone said Worcester sauce.) Remarkable intensity and complexity, with the firm tannin having integrated into the wine, lifted by a good dose of acidity, keeping poise, balance and freshness in check. The harmony is staggering here, as is the long silky finish. Drink now and over next 10 - 15 years. 18.5/20


Flight 4:

1995 Corton, Calvet-bottled (magnum): This definitely showed its age, but in a nice way. A very mature bouquet of game, leather, dried fruit (date), coffee, truffle, earth, sous-bois with just a hint of the hoi sin sauce. Silky in texture, but some volatility has started to set into the acidity and finish. Still an admirable effort for this age! 16/20


We took a vote at the end and most people voted for the 1990 Bonneau du Martray for the white wine of the evening and the 1993 Leroy Corton-Renardes for the red wine of the evening. A few of us were more enticed by the purity and tension in the 2008 Bonneau du Martray. As for the reds, there were some outlying votes for the 2002 de La Vougeraie's Corton Clos du Roi.

What did we learn?  There was no question that these were beautiful Cortons, but we could not identify a conclusive style, and we found that the wines seemed to demonstrate more the winemakers' styles and vintage characteristics. In any case, we had too few samples to come up with any conclusive comments, but this tasting did give us a chance to focus on this much under-rated (priced) Grand Cru - let's hope the Cortons stay this way (price-wise)......!