2010 Corton Charlemagne

The 2010 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru offers an enticing array of marine scents on the nose: cockle shells and estuarine aromas. Give it a couple more minutes and watch those lovely grilled walnut scents flourish and multiply so that is ends up almost Meursault Perrieres in character. The palate makes an immediate impression on the entry with that subtle nutty theme continuing, partnered with racy acidity, superb concentration and a long, tense finish that is energetic and surfeit with mineralite, flint popping up on the finish. So delicious you could broach a bottle now - but that would be depriving you of what will be in a decade-s time! Drink 2016-2035. Time to fill in a small gap of notes relating to the most significant grower in the Corton hill - Bonneau du Martray. Jean-Charles suggested we taste recent vintages together after the 2012s, which I was more than happy to do. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Atlanta Wholesale Wines, Atlanta, GA; tel. (404) 696-9440; C-est Vin, Arlington, VA; tel. (703) 243-3559; Scott Paul Wines, Oregon; tel. (503) 852-7300, Wines Unlimited, New Orleans, LA; tel. (504) 897-0191

Good pale yellow. Penetrating aromas of citrus peel, spices, metallic minerality and crushed rock. Tightly wound, gripping and deep, with outstanding concentration and clarity and a density of texture that reminded me of the 2005 here. A flavor of candied lime peel is already quite exhilarating but this wine's youthfully imploded character calls for at least seven or eight years of cellaring. Today, this is rather like a tighter version of the 2011, and even more closed than a bottle I rated 94 in Issue 164.

A wine of pure and ample breadth, the 2011 Corton-Charlemagne has really shut down over the last few months. Pear, almond and white peach notes emerge, but only with great reluctance. Today it is the wine's intense minerality and salinity that dominate. The 2010 is a big wine. Accordingly it will require a measure of patience in the cellar. This is one of the more inward, unexpressive bottles of the 2010 I have tasted, but its inner strength is apparent.