Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2017 - Domaine de Montille

Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2017 - Domaine de Montille

The name: 

Bought in 2004, the 1.02 ha parcel was at the time planted with pinot noir under the appellation Corton Pougets. It seemed to us that the soil, made of yellow marl, light brown clay and fine gravel, was better suited to the production of great white wines. The decision was taken in 2005, to graft the vine with Chardonnay in the upper part of the 35 year old vine, the lower part, which was too old, was pulled up and replanted.

"Corton" comes from "Cort is Ottoni", the royal estate of Otton the Great grandson of Charlemagne, who became Otton I, King of Germania and the Franks after his coronation in 936 in Aachen. It is said that in 775 Charlemagne gave this vast vineyard to the Abbey of Saint Antoche de Saulieu. The Canons are said to have decided to call this vineyard "Charlemagne" to thank their benefactor.

This Corton-Charlemagne is from the outset racy, imperial. The attack is frank, straight, almost virile. The palate is powerful, deep, ample, rich but very structured and impresses by its density and elegance. It is above all the length on the palate that expresses the Grand Cru character. The finish is persistent, salty. This wine requires patience, and it needs 5 to 8 years to fully express itself.

The wines, the style : 

Our wines are renowned for their great aromatic purity, we always favour balance and elegance rather than power and extraction. The wines are a classic expression of Burgundy, their appellation in general and their terroir in particular. The cultivation methods used contribute to this sought-after personalisation and the vinification process must avoid all excesses and instead seek the point of balance where the Burgundy terroir will find its rightful place.

The harvest is entirely manual and thanks to the use of pneumatic presses, we can modulate our presses according to the quality of the grapes and the profile of the vintage. After a light settling, the musts are put into barrels, mainly of 600 litres and also of 228 litres, where the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation takes place.

We use about 5 to 20% new barrels with wood coming essentially from the Allier, with a long and light toasting. The first racking takes place after about a year of maturing in wood to begin the second phase (4 to 6 months) in stainless steel vats in order to keep the wine fresh and taut. We conclude this ageing process with a light fining followed by an equally respectful filtration of the wine before bottling.

Cultivation of the vine: 

The Domaine has been practicing organic farming since 1995. Our wines are now Ecocert certified. Since 2005, biodynamic farming has been added to these practices, which respect the soil and living organisms.