“Le Corton” shares the famous hill with “Corton-Charlemagne” and the latter was once planted entirely to Pinot Noir. As the legend goes, it was re-planted to Chardonnay after the wife of bacchanalian Emperor Charlemagne was fed up with his Pinot-stained beard. In an attempt to clean up his beard, if not his act, Mademoiselle Charlemagne had the entire vineyard re-planted to Chardonnay. The noble Pinot Noir grape, thankfully, made a resurgence and remains the predominant grape planted (~95%) throughout this majestic hillside. In the Grand Cru lieu-dit of “Le Corton,” however, red has always reigned King: This lauded, southeast-facing, and predominantly limestone vineyard delivers structured red Burgundy that rivals Côte de Nuits’ Grand Crus in power and intensity. 

Domaine Marius Delarche’s winery is in the foothills above Pernand-Vergelesses, where the family has been crafting wines from Corton since the 1940s. Philippe Delarche and his son, Etienne, jointly tended the vineyards and crafted the wine as a team until Philippe lost a long battle with cancer in 2007. Since then, Etienne has carried on, implementing the wisdom of his father and his own experiences around the world to produce beautiful wine one vintage after the next. Delarche’s tiny 50+-year-old parcel of “Le Corton” lies at the summit of the hill—around 1100 feet in elevation—right at the fringe of the forest line. The hand-harvested fruit is entirely de-stemmed prior to a long maceration and the ‘cap’ is punched down manually during a natural yeasts fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The wine is gently pressed into a combination of used and new (30%) French oak barrels where it ages for 12 months. Afterward, it is bottled without fining or filtration to capture every nuance this storied terroir has to offer.  

Delarche’s newly minted 2017 reveals a deep, crimson core with slight ruby-pink reflections, and unfurls with powerfully concentrated perfumes that no other recent vintage can match. The beautiful thing about these wines, as well as those from Raphet and Gavignet in the Côte de Nuits, is that I’ve never had a current release that was too closed or a decades-old bottle that was past its prime. It’s an extraordinary winemaking feat to pull the best of both worlds, meaning wines that can be enjoyed now or in the distant future. That said, the best drinking window for Delarche’s 2017 “Le Corton” will arrive around its sixth birthday, but it can certainly be fully enjoyed today after a 2-3 hour decant.

The ‘17 is a concentrated beauty that instantly erupts with pungent aromas of black cherry liqueur, currants, Damson plum, blood peach, and forest flora. But as time passes, more savory nuances come into play, like crushed rocks, aniseed, cloves, muddled herbs, damp violet, and leather. The palate flaunts muscular density and brawny tannins that seemingly melt into a wonderfully polished core of fruit and minerality—all of which coast onto a lengthy, ultra-savory finish. Again, a bottle can be thoroughly enjoyed now but the fireworks won’t be lighting up for years to come. Thankfully, you don’t have to invest a small fortune into these rare bottles! Enjoy!