Corton-Charlemagne
Grand Cru 2019
This great white Burgundy from the Côte de Beaune hails from the slopes of the Corton hill.
Origin
This Grand Cru appellation exists only in white and covers a surface area of 71.87 ha of which 48.57 ha of vines are located in Aloxe-Corton, 17.25 ha in Pernand-Vergelesses and 6.5 ha in Ladoix-Serrigny. The soil is clayey with marls at the upper part of the slope.
The emperor Charlemagne gave these vines to the collegiate church of Saint-Andoche in Saulieu in 775 to whom they belonged for the next thousand years. With a name that still celebrates the memory of the emperor, Corton-Charlemagne includes the Charlemagne and En Charlemagne vineyards as well as a few neighbouring single vineyards (the Grand Cru AOC dates back to 31 July 1937).
Viticulture
Grape variety: chardonnay
Soils: marly, rich in clay with some limestone areas.
Exposition: South.
Pruning: Guyot system.
Vinification
Harvest date: 20 September 2019.
The grapes were handpicked.
At the winery: the whole bunches of grapes were gently pressed for 2½ hours. The temperature of the must was brought down to 12°C then was immediately transferred to barrels with no settling to preserve a maximum of lees. Long fermentation using indigenous yeasts for added complexity and freshness.
Ageing
Maturation: aged for 17 months with no racking or stirring to bring out all of this wine’s minerality. A proportion of 100% new French oak barrels.
Barrels: French oak barrels that had been toasted at low temperatures for a long time to impart a subtle, delicate touch of oak were used.
Bottling
Bottling: the wine was bentonite fined and very gently filtered before being bottled using gravity in April 2021.
Number of bottles: 282.
Vintage
A legendary vintages?
According to Grégory Patriat, this second harvest at the Ursulines winery will go down as a legendary vintage just like 1969, 1979, 1999, 2009, and 2019, because the concentration in the wines is very high indeed. Years with drought and low yields are always great vintages in Burgundy. We had some new premier crus come online last year, with three in Chambolle-Musigny, one in Gevrey-Chambertin, and one in Nuits-Saint-Georges; Le Clos des Argillères. Furthermore, we revived our tradition of producing white wines in villages better known for their reds, with a white Fixin.
Ageing potential: 7 years and more.
Tasting notes
With a beautiful golden and limpid color, this wine reveals a nose with intense notes of citrus fruits, but also notes of acacias with which some notes of yellow fruits intermingle. The palate is a precise and complex bouquet! The attack is rich, a little fat can also be detected and the finish is quite tangy. A very straightforward wine full of nobility.
