2016 Corton, Clos du Roi, Grand Cru, Domaine de Montille, Burgundy
- Red
- Dry
- Medium Bodied
- Pinot Noir
For laying down
- Neal Martin MW
- 89-91/100
Product: 20168018227
Description
Whole bunches are down to 66 percent here (versus 100 percent for the rich, structured 2015); new oak was maintained at 50 percent. The wine has an exceptional perfume; energetic, pure and dark. There is also very good structure on the palate – not too dense as this vineyard can sometimes be. The vintage's precision is especially evident in this wine. Drink 2022-2027.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
Domaine de Montille was developed by Hubert de Montille (1930-2014), a prominent Dijon lawyer, who inherited 2.5 hectares of vineyards in Volnay in 1947. Over the years he acquired further parcels in Volnay, Pommard and Puligny-Montrachet Les Caillerets. Today the business is run by his son Étienne who has extended the domaine by purchases of vineyards in Beaune, Corton and the Côte de Nuits, including some marvellous Vosne-Romanée Les Malconsorts. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically and the red wines are increasingly vinified with whole bunches. Following the splendid successes here in 2015, this vintage provides a contrast in style, but with reasons to buy that are just as compelling. Volumes are down in certain appellations and winemaking has been tempered to release more of the vintage’s purity of fruit and definition of terroir. Use of whole bunches for the reds continues, but not by rote, with proportions being adjusted according to each cuvée’s requirements.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer
Domaine de Montille was developed by Hubert de Montille (1930-2014), a prominent Dijon lawyer, who inherited 2.5 hectares of vineyards in Volnay in 1947. Over the years he acquired further parcels in Volnay, Pommard and Puligny-Montrachet Les Caillerets. Today the business is run by his son Étienne who has extended the domaine by purchases of vineyards in Beaune, Corton and the Côte de Nuits, including some marvellous Vosne-Romanée Les Malconsorts. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically and the red wines are increasingly vinified with whole bunches. Following the splendid successes here in 2015, this vintage provides a contrast in style, but with reasons to buy that are just as compelling. Volumes are down in certain appellations and winemaking has been tempered to release more of the vintage’s purity of fruit and definition of terroir. Use of whole bunches for the reds continues, but not by rote, with proportions being adjusted according to each cuvée’s requirements.
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2016
Alcohol % 13
Maturity For laying down
Grape List Pinot Noir
Body Medium Bodied
Producer Domaine de Montille
Critics reviews
Neal Martin MW 89-91/100
The 2016 Corton Clos du Roi Grand Cru, from 65 year old vines, is two-thirds whole cluster with 50% new oak. The bouquet is introverted at first and only gradually unfurls in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with quite refined tannin, grippy in the mouth at the moment with quite a masculine, lightly peppered finish that should soften if you can leave the bottle to mellow for 3 or 4 years. I am just looking for more panache to come through here.Neil Martin - 29/12/2017
About this wine
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or. Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.
Find out more
Domaine de Montille
The De Montille family has long been a venerable one in Burgundy, though Domaine de Montille’s reputation was properly established in 1947: prominent Dijon lawyer Hubert de Montille inherited 2.5 hectares in Volnay, later adding further parcels in Volnay, Pommard and Puligny. Hubert’s style was famously austere: low alcohol, high tannin and sublime in maturity. His son, Etienne, joined him from ’83 to ’89 before becoming the senior winemaker, taking sole charge from ’95. Etienne also managed Château de Puligny-Montrachet from ’01; he bought it, with investors, in ’12. The two estates were separate until ’17, when the government decreed that any wine estate bearing an appellation name could no longer offer wine from outside that appellation. The solution was to absorb the château estate into De Montille – the amalgamated portfolio is now one of the finest in the Côte d’Or. Etienne converted the estate to organics in ‘95, and to biodynamics in 2005, making the house style more generous and open, focusing on the use of whole bunches for the reds.
Find out more
Need help?
Delivery and Quality Guarantee
Registered company 05492886. BB&R Limited, trading as Berry Bros. & Rudd, 3 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1EG. All rights reserved. You must be 18 or over to order. Calls may be recorded.
