Got called up to Melbourne last night for Dury Duty. Mark was our extremely generous host and arranged 3 brackets of Corton-Charlemagne featuring Coche vs Leroy. Each bracket was served blind and had two wines from each producer. For the first time ever we had no corked or oxidised wines and the quality on offer was unbelievable. All 12 members of Monday Table were in attendance and the strike rate of identifying the wines was as high as I’ve seen, the wines were so pure. The general preference was for the wines made by Coche, but the Leroy wines all showed well.
After an absurdly good showing of white wines we were treated to four delicious Leroy reds from the same vineyard. We were supposed to finish with two Ports but Mark thought we needed a cleansing Yquem before departing.
CC Bracket 1
2012 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Very fresh nose of pure white peach and aniseed. The palate is direct, intense, chalky and powerful. It is so sharp it nearly draws blood yet there’s immense pleasure derived. Length is fabulous.
2011 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Has some exotic notes with plenty of pineapple and vanilla. It is rich and really builds through the palate yet the Corton line remains rigid. It has terrific volume and persistence.
2010 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Serious wine but seriously backwards. There’s a bare whiff of flint, chalk and citrus blossom. In the mouth it is super intense and compact with outstanding depth of citrus and mineral flavours. There’s something lactic lurking in the background and it finishes with a huge puff of chalk and so much chew from the dry extract. A legendary Coche that needs a decade or two in the cellar.
2009 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Has a distinctive popcorn smell. There are aromas of ripe peach, dried apricot and toast too. It is full, round and generous yet still possesses good posture and a suggestion of smoky minerals to the long finish.
CC Bracket 2
2004 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Plenty of smoky reduction upon first inspection. The fruit is fresh and pure and it is a wine that oozes minerality. It is complex, fine, detailed, linear and long
2004 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: An opulent wine that shows notes of Pine Lime Splice and ripe orchard fruits. It has an intense, fruit sweet heart and real sappy mouthfeel. It has good drive and flavours linger for a long time. Drinking right in the zone.
2008 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: One of the greatest young white Burgs I have ever had. The nose is flinty with pure white peach and aniseed smells along with fresh blossom notes. The palate is so intense with preserved citrus and sappy peach flavours. It has a strict line and really builds. The super long finish has a most pleasurable saline mineral quality.
2003 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Drinking nicely but marked by the vintage. It had an apple cider smell to it and orchard fruit flavours were very ripe. The palate was just a little flat and short when compared to the wines served around it.
CC Bracket 3
2005 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Expressive nose of candied peel, flint, smoke and butter. It is rich and powerful wine with a high glycerol feel but all flavours are in check and underpinned by chalky structure. The finish drives on and on.
2007 Coche-Dury Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: The nose is quite tight with a whiff of struck match and suggestion of white peach. The palate is a lot more giving and generously fruited. Fruit flavours have an exotic edge and it is a rich and powerful wine with a lick of mineral punching through the flesh at the end.
2000 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: This has been a fabulous drink for the past decade and it keeps powering on. It is gently candied and has some tinned fruit aromas and flavours. It is full and rich and feels like structural elements are close to being fully resolved in the mouth. It builds, is textural and is quite a sensual and harmonious wine.
2001 Domaine Leroy Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru: Complex aromatics of ripe orchard fruits, toast and mineral. It is full and rich, with excellent line and a finish that tightens, leaving a chalky feel against the gums.
Corton-Renardes Bracket
2008 Domaine Leroy Corton-Renardes, Grand Cru: The first sniff revealed some meat, sweat and compost. It breathed up and had a core of black cherry. It is a deep wine that is complex and engaging. It has serious build and sugar coated tannins. Needs time.
2009 Domaine Leroy Corton-Renardes, Grand Cru: Super complex and expressive with notes of Redskin lolly, white flowers, sarsaparilla root, beetroot and Chinese 5 spice powder. Again there’s a core of black fruit and it is a large scaled wine but one of really good finesse too.
2000 Domaine Leroy Corton-Renardes, Grand Cru: Upon first smell I thought this was La Tache. There was so much Hoisin, beef stock, black tea and grated ginger on the nose. In the mouth it is full, sweet and ethereal. It has excellent volume and really fans out on the finish. Leroy made superb ‘00’s and this is a beauty.
1999 Domaine Leroy Corton-Renardes, Grand Cru: Aromatically similar to the '00, with plenty of Hoisin, beef stock and ginger. It is perhaps a little more floral and certainly tightens in the glass. There’s real depth here and a finish that is carried by tangy acidity. Still a baby.
Nacional Bracket
1963 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional: I have had a better bottle of this legendary wine but this one was still bloody good. The spirit punched red and black fruits up into one’s nostrils upon first sniff. There was some truffle development and notes of sweet raisin and chocolate. It had good depth, nice balance and outstanding length.
1967 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional: A stunning bottle that actually bettered the ’63 next to it. It had such an engaging nose with all sorts of floral nuance and a wonderful, savoury spirit. On the palate it is full, calm and complex, with nice interplay between the sweet and savoury elements. It fills every crevice of the mouth with flavour and finishes dry and savoury, leaving a wonderful calling card of flora and earth.
Yquem on his lonesome
1983 Château d’Yquem, Sauternes: There’s plenty happening on the nose. You get some toast and Autumnal leaf development, a drizzle of honey, some vanilla and dried apricot. It is rich and round in the mouth with good balancing acidity and a hint of fruit rind bitterness to the finish.
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