Domaine Edmond Cornu & Fils Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru, Burgundy, France 2019

FROM ROSENTHAL:

THE WINE: The vineyard of Les Moutottes sits right next to the grand cru Corton-Rognet; the Cornu family owns a one-half hectare parcel. Here, we have a wine that is graceful with a generous fruit that soothes the beast that is Aloxe-Corton; it is seductively luscious but with lots of backbone, a friendly, sophisticated and fine companion at the table. With air, the endless layers of that profound Aloxe minerality come surging forth, along with sappy black fruits and that telltale Cornu fresh-turned-earth element. Pierre calls this his “belle danseuse,” which is perhaps appropriate in the context of the appellation … or if we’re talking about Pina Bausch’s interpretation of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring!”

THE PRODUCER: We have worked with the Cornu family since the 1978 vintage, one of the very first estates to enter into our portfolio. Edmond Cornu, tall, lean and talented, was the man in charge at that time. His son, Pierre, joined the family enterprise shortly thereafter and Pierre now has taken on the title of proprietaire while Edmond remains “principal advisor”. The domaine’s holdings are spread throughout the villages of the northern tier of the Cote de Beaune. Their wines capture the broad spectrum of sensory pleasures that the best of the wines from Ladoix, Aloxe, Chorey and Savigny supply.

Currently, the estate comprises 15 hectares, 13.5 of which are planted to Pinot Noir and the rest to the classic white grapes of Burgundy (1.5 hectares to Chardonnay plus 0.5 hectare of Aligoté). The vineyards are spread across the communes of Ladoix, Chorey, Aloxe Corton and Savigny in the Cote de Beaune and a small parcel in Corgoloin in the Cote de Nuits. The entire crop is hand-harvested. The grapes are completely destemmed. The fermentation for the reds and the Aligoté occurs in stainless steel tanks; pigeage and remontage are part of the fermentation process for the red wines, the extent to which either is done is dependent on the structure of the particular vintage. Fermentation temperatures normally range between 30 and 32 degrees centigrade. After the alcoholic fermentation the red wines are racked into small barrels to age for 15 to 20 months, again the length of elevage depends on the structure of the wine, the more sturdy and complex the wine, the longer the aging in barrel. The malolactic fermentaion is done in barrel. The wines are rarely fined and only occasionally may be filtered. The few white wines produced at this domaine are, with the exception of the Aligoté, fermented and aged in small barrel with a minimal use of new oak.