Today, a quick reaction time is of the essence! In previous vintages, we’ve nominated Domaine Delarche’s “Le Corton” as one of Burgundy’s greatest Grand Cru Pinot Noir values and now it’s become the rarest too: Delarche emerged with a single barrel in 2019 and because we’ve been such loyal supporters over the years, they’ve passed on a handful of bottles to us.

Given the current landscape of upper-echelon Pinot Noir, finding a genuinely elite Grand Cru under $100 is quickly turning into a pipe dream and the few that do exist are not readily obtainable—especially those with one-barrel productions. So, today marks your once-per-year chance to acquire a painfully rare, blue-chip investment that allows you to drink like royalty without leaving a crater in your bank statement. Culled from a tiny, old-vine parcel at the top of the Grand Cru hill of Corton and raised by some of the most thoughtful and traditional hands in the region, this luxury Pinot Noir is a timeless, opulent, top-of-the-line benchmark. We’re allowing up to six bottles per customer so one can be enjoyed in the near term while your remainders slumber their way into a spectacular evolution. We won’t find a greater Grand Cru red Burgundy all year.

“Le Corton” shares the famous hill with “Corton-Charlemagne” and the latter was once planted entirely to Pinot Noir. As 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 supreme: This lauded, southeast-facing, predominantly limestone lieu-dit delivers lush and 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 parcel in Le Corton is perched at the summit of the hill, around 1100 feet in elevation, near the fringe of the forest. In 2019, the hand-harvested fruit was de-stemmed prior to a lengthy maceration, and the ‘cap’ was manually punched down during a natural-yeast fermentation in stainless steel. The resulting wine was then gently transferred into a single, once-used French oak barrel where it aged for 12 months. Afterward, it was bottled without fining or filtration to capture every nuance this storied terroir has to offer.  

Delarche’s 2019 Le Corton Grand Cru is one of the lushest and most hedonistic examples of Corton in its youth—all while retaining the hillside’s signature minerality and hardy structure. If consuming within the next 2-3 years, give it a 60-minute decant and serve in your largest Burgundy stems. It erupts with high-toned aromas of spiced plums, licorice, blood orange zest, candied violet, goji berry, blood orange, Chambord, sappy black cherry, baking spices, crushed stone, and damp moss with a grippy, irony (geological, not literary) backbone. The full-bodied palate, for Pinot Noir, is luscious and intense with superb dark-fruited polish and soft tannins. Although a luxurious powerhouse now, please do stash some away for consumption beyond 2025 and 2030. Your patience will be handsomely rewarded!