2020 Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru, Bonneau du Martray, Burgundy

35% from En Charlemagne and 65% from Le Charlemagne.

An airy, cool, layered nose features notes of green apple, white flowers, and discreet hints of mineral reduction and wood. The almost painfully intense, sleek, tension-filled flavours display beautiful cut and minerality while delivering superb length on the chiselled, linear, austere finale. This is an old-school CC that is rich and ripe, yet it cuts like a knife. Impressive.

Drink 2032

The analysis looks perfectly balanced at 13.35% alcohol and pH 3.15. This has been racked but not sulphured since the harvest. Primrose colour, the nose shows a little heaviness and needs freshening up soon with a sulphur adjustment. The nose suggests yellow fruit and a certain thickness of texture. Ripe to baked apple notes. The palate, however, shows wonderful potential with excellent grip due in part to a little youthful bitterness. Still the apple theme, but more important to consider the intensity and the structure. Also the length is what it should be. I have to be cautious, given the current stage of development.

The 2020 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru was bottled in May 2022. It has a light bouquet at first, gaining intensity with time, with scents of beeswax, chalk and touches of Mirabelle. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity—quite tensile, backward and fine salinity. There is a pleasant residual spiciness here that comes through on the finish. The remainder of barrel maturation will lend more depth and weight, and it will benefit from 3-5 years in bottle.

Drink 2025 - 2045

As I wrote earlier this year, Bonneau du Martray's 2020 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru unwinds in the glass with aromas of crisp Anjou pear, peach and nectarine mingled with white flowers, clear honey, nutmeg, mint and fresh bread. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, it's bright and concentrated, with terrific depth at the core and a long, saline finish. Seamless, intense and complete, this elegant, precise white Burgundy is built for the cellar.

Drink 2027 - 2053