Chandon de Briailles Corton Marechaudes Grand Cru 2018
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Robert
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Located just below Corton Bressandes, the vineyards have east-southeast exposure; Claude explained that here, you begin to see some similarities to the soil you find in the Cote de Nuits. The soil is red as it is very ferruginous, and you find limestone rocks throughout the vineyard. Chandon de Briailles has two-fifths of a hectare here, planted in 1974 and 1979. The domaine has been working the parcel by horse since 2012 and avoids using tractors in the vineyard to avoid compacting the soil. Each vine is cared for by hand. It's a fantastic Grand Cru site. Wine from here tends to be more open than Bressandes or Clos du Roi in its youth— perfect for those who prefer young wines— yet still has finesse and a velvety texture with fine tannins
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Vinous
The 2018 Corton Les Maréchaudes Grand Cru has retained the exquisite, crystalline nose that I noted from barrel, featuring pixelated red fruit that seems to glisten. The palate is medium-bodied, crisp and focused, with fine tannins, lightly spiced red berry fruit and graphite toward the finish. Not enormous depth here, but it feels so energetic and tensile that it positively enlivens the senses. Give this two or three more years’ slumber in the cellar. Superb.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Corton Les Maréchaudes Grand Cru has turned out beautifully, wafting from the glass with notes of sweet red berries, dark chocolate, peonies and spices. Medium to full-bodied, layered and elegantly muscular, it's broad-shouldered and lively, concluding with a bright, nicely defined finish.
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At Chandon de Briailles, the vineyard management has been fully biodynamic since 2005 and organic since 1998. Claude's brother, Francois de Nicolay joined the domaine in 2001.
In the cellar, no enological products are used (except for sulfur in very small quantities), no tartaric acid, no exogenous yeasts, no tannin powder, no enzymes, etc. The Chandon de Briailles wines are quite unique in the fact that there is a negligible amount of new oak for aging and most wines are made with a whole-cluster fermentation. The domaine has cut back on its use of whole cluster fermentation since 2011 and adapts vintage to vintage. The Savigny-les-Beaune village is typically de-stemmed and the premier cru and grand cru will have up to 100% whole cluster in a sunny year (with good phenolic maturity). Fermentations start naturally a few days after harvest in open top cement tanks. Aging is carried out in used barrels (up to eight years-old) and the wine are bottled without fining or filtration. Claude likes to describe her wines as having 'no make-up', referring to the lack of new oak.
John Gilman (View From the Cellar) wrote: “This domaine is quickly becoming one of the very finest to be found anywhere in the Côte D’Or...these are great, classically styled, terroir-driven red and white Burgundies that age brilliantly, and are among the treasures to be found in the Côte de Beaune for those adventurous enough to try a few bottles.”
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A classic source of exceptional Chardonnay as well as Pinot Noir, the Côte de Beaune makes up the southern half of the Côte d’Or. Its principal wine-producing villages are Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet.
The area is named for its own important town of Beaune, which is essentially the center of the Burgundy wine business and where many negociants center their work. Hospices de Beaune, the annual wine auction, is based here as well.