Because they’ve earned it, Delarche is trusted by our subscribers for reds and whites alike. We certainly trust them, as evidenced by the number of their wines we’ve offered: This domaine is an across-the-board source of great Burgundy, and an extremely consistent one at that! Today’s “Ile de Vergelesses” bottling—a new offer for us—is an outstanding Corton look-alike as is, but the Delarche family took it one step further this year: They granted their importer inside access, allowing them to hand-select a few barrels they deemed superior.
Today’s extremely limited bottle comes from one of these two cherry-picked barrels (for those counting at home, that’s only 50 total cases), but it gets even better: With its quarter-mile proximity to the base of Corton, “Ile de Vergelesses” is easily considered one of Marius Delarche’s—and the Côte de Beaune’s—top Premier Cru sites. The cherry on top? It’s available today at a price that comes in far lower than Delarche’s Grand Crus, and, since everyone ran us completely dry when we offered their “Le Corton” a while back, this is another chance to experience a majestic red that will effortlessly age over the coming decades.
Domaine Marius Delarche lies in the foothills above Pernand-Vergelesses and was originally established in the mid-1900s. Since then, the torch has been passed three times, from father to son, in classic Burgundian fashion. 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 exquisitely beautiful wines one vintage after the next. His ability to retain the original charm and artisanal style that his forefathers laid down has turned many important heads in the wine world, causing Delarche’s stock to continuously rise.
The walled vineyard of “Ile de Vergelesses” (the “island of Vergelesses”) is so named due to the combination of country roads and antique stone walls that “isolate” it from surrounding vineyards. The red clay and limestone land here enjoys southeastern exposure and is situated only
a few thousand feet from the Grand Cru-studded hill of Corton. Today’s two-barrel selection is hand-harvested from 40-year-old vines, and, despite being uncertified, the family makes every effort to farm organically. The grapes are 100% de-stemmed and fermentation is initiated by indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks with a once-daily punch-down (the re-introduction of skins to juice by ‘punching-down’ the ‘cap’ of skins that forms at the top of fermenting wine). The wine is then transferred into wood vessels, and other than being exposed to 10% new French oak, the entirety of the wine rests in old, neutral barrels for 12 months. It is then bottled for the market unfined and unfiltered.
The 2016 vintage was much smaller than the bountiful ‘15, but, as we’ve said before, our experience has been overwhelmingly positive—entirely for Delarche—and their 2016 “Ile de Vergelesses” rockets to the front of the line. It reveals a deep ruby core with purple and pink hues moving out to the rim. The bottle erupts with black cherry blossoms and fresh violets, followed by black raspberry, red and blue plums, red currant, tea leaves, forest floor, crushed rocks, and wild herbs, all of which are underpinned by a touch of baking spice. The palate in medium-plus in body and is incredibly pure and precise, showing off lots of wild berry fruit incorporated with intense mineral components and fine-grained tannins. A beautiful rush of acidity also rounds out the finish, making this delicious to drink now. It is clearly capable of multi-decade aging too, so opening the bottle over the next 15 years won’t be met with any problems whatsoever! When drinking this 2016, decant for 30 minutes and serve in Burgundy stems—a classic pork dijonnaise popped into my head during my tasting, so follow the attached recipe to recreate this beautiful, yet simple French dish. Cheers!
