1995 Corton Charlemagne

Corton Charlemagne is Latour's flagship wine, as the Griotte Chambertin is to Claude Dugat and the Musigny Vieilles Vignes is to the Comte de Vogue. True to form, the 1995 is an outstanding effort. An extremely tight but super-ripe nose of sweet fruits is followed by a massive cascade of deep, sweet, intense, tropical fruits mixed with candied apples and red currants. This full-bodied, excellently structured wine has enormous depth and concentration, as well as a long finish (flavors of cassis, apples and a touch of lemon linger for 30 seconds or more). Hold it for 5 years and drink it over the subsequent 8. This note is the result of tastings I did in Burgundy between January 7 and January 29. Ratings with a range of scores in parentheses indicate the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. At Louis Latour the wine making is entrusted to Jean-Pierre Jobard, the brother of Francois and Charles Jobard, two well-known names in Meursault. Jobard commented that the acid in 1995 reminded him of the 1988. Louis Latour is represented by a different importer in each state.