DRC Corton (Prince Florent de Merode) 2015 (750ML)

93 DE / 93 WA / 93 VM / 93 BH / 19 JR

The very first DRC Corton vintage was in 2009, a ‘fermage’ arrangement to farm the three climat vineyards of Prince Florent de Merode. Biodynamically farmed, the wine is made from Le Clos du Roi, Les Renardes and Les Bressandes. The 45 year old vines were harvested on September 5th, yielding 22.3hl/ha. The domaine believes this to be its best Corton since the inaugural 2009. It's a bright ruby colour with a nose of ripe but not jammy red fruits and a hint of oak. The palate is not overly dense, but carries a juicy, crystalline freshness, charming with its sweet cherry and raspberry fruit underpinned by finely woven tannins. Good length with a clean mineral finish. Bottled 15th & 16th February 2017. 382 cases produced. - John Stimpfig, Decanter

The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2015 Corton Grand Cru wafts from the glass with a pretty bouquet of plum, red cherry, rose hip and herbs, notions of darker fruits and rich soil emerging only with extended aeration. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, sapid and penetrating, with vibrant acids and an assertive chassis of firm, youthfully stemmy tannins—though there's sufficient mid-palate depth to subsume those in the fullness of time. While the domaine's Corton, from the vineyards of Prince Florent de Mérode, is still a work in progress, the 2015 is the most successful rendition to date, and the balmy, low-yielding vintage seems to have played to the hill's strengths. This was the first of DRC's reds to be harvested in 2015, picked on September 5 at yields of 22 hectoliters per hectare, and unlike the rest of the domaine's wines, it was 20% destemmed.- William Kelley, Wine Advocate

The 2015 Corton Grand Cru was cropped at 22.30hl/ha on 5 September. I feel that the more that Aubert and his team have worked this parcel, the more it becomes an integral part of the “family”. It has such a pretty, vivacious bouquet with vivid red cherries, bergamot and crushed strawberry. It is extremely very well defined and with a subtle tincture of orange blossom and rose petals. The palate is crisp and fresh on the entry with just a light tang of spice. This Corton already feels very cohesive and unerringly approachable thanks to the lightness of touch towards the tertiary finish. Delightful is the word that immediately springs to mind. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London. - Neal Martin, Vinous Media

A ripe but reasonably fresh array mixes both red currant and dark berry aromas that are liberally laced with notes of various floral, sauvage and earth nuances. There is first-rate volume and power to the serious, intense and overtly muscular big-bodied flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the robust, moderately rustic and impressively long finish. To my way of viewing the progression made by this wine since the first vintage under the Domaine's auspices in 2009, this is beginning to resemble a true Corton. I would expect that as the different system of viticulture and replanting to higher quality vines begins to have their inevitable effects that this will continue to improve. Note that while this is certainly a big and structured wine, it's not so youthfully backward that it won't be approachable relatively young, at least in the context of what is typical for a classic Corton. - Allen Meadows, Burghound

There is a strange divinity to the aromas of DRC wines, and this has it in spades: the red fruit is poised and understated, interwoven with stemmy character that has a dewdrop sort of freshness to it, somehow. Tremendous clarity on the palate, light tannic chew and tremendous cranberry fruit plus an iron-rich earthiness on the finish. Goes way beyond the limits of most Corton. - Richard Hemming MW, Jancis Robinson .com