Corton Charlemagne 2012 75cl

Raphel Coche told me that the 2012 Corton Charlemagne was the only vineyard that escaped hail damage this year. It has a very succinct nose, not predisposed to go out and grab you by the lapels. The aromatics unfurl with a sense of ease prioritizing finesse over power: beeswax, linden, lemon thyme and fresh pear. The palate is exquisitely balanced with fleeting glimpses of Seville orange and apricot. But there is more about the tension, the effortlessness and that it just rolls out across the finish like a huge Turkish rug. This is the kind of wine that exhausts superlatives. <br/><br/>It is a measure of how busy I have been over the last few months that I forgot that I had tasted through Coche-Dury's 2012 at the domaine back in November! How can you forget tasting one of the finest exponents of white Burgundy? Luckily enough, I stumbled upon the notes nestling among reams of 2013. "It was a more difficult vintage than I can remember," remarked Raphael Coche at the time of my visit. "You had to be very vigilant. In 2013 we were more prepared but the 2012 came as a shock." Well, that did not seem to affect the wines that were quite simply astonishing. The two wines that rivet you to the spot at the Corton-Charlemagne, which is predictable, and the Meursault Genevrières, which might be less so. These were generally tensile, razor-sharp and deeply complex wines that will give pleasure to those lucky enough to receive allocations in the future. I was less taken with the reds in this vintage, except for what will be their final Pommard Village, their parcel having been part of an exchange for more Corton-Charlemagne. I cannot imagine there will be too many complaining about that.<br/>