Louis Latour Corton Clos de la Vigne au Saint Grand Cru 2018
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The Corton "Clos de la Vigne au Saint" 2018 has a deep color with garnet hues. The nose is complex with aromas of blackberry, black cherry, blackcurrant and mocha. Black cherry and mocha are found on the palate with a touch of licorice. A full-bodied wine with silky tannins and a very fresh finish.
Pair with roasted hare, partridge, duck "à l'orange", or mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lovely purity of fruit with crushed berries, dried lemons, mushrooms and cedar undertones. It’s full-bodied and layered with soft tannins. Savory and subtly fruity at the same time. Drink after 2022.
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Wine Spectator
This is big, lush and boasts black cherry, blackberry and plum fruit. Toasty, sweet spices add depth as does a mineral element that emerges as this winds down gracefully on the finish. Balanced and long, if lacking some nuance. Best from 2023 through 2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Corton Clos de la Vigne Au Saint Grand Cru opens in the glass with notes of cherries, cassis, sweet spices and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied, round and velvety, with lively acid and rich, powdery tannins, it's seamless and charming, much as I predicted from barrel.
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Maison Louis Latour is one of the most highly-respected négociant-éléveurs in Burgundy. Maison Louis Latour is the producer of some of the finest Burgundian wines but has also pioneered the production of fine wines from outside Burgundy's confines. These wines from the Ardèche and the Côteaux de Verdon are slowly gaining esteem for their unmatchable quality outside Burgundy.
All the grapes from the vineyards owned by the Latour family are vinified and aged in the attractive cuverie of Chateau Corton Grancey in Aloxe-Corton. The winery was the first purpose-built cuverie in France and remains the oldest still functioning. A unique railway system with elevators allows the entire wine-making process to be achieved by the use of gravity. This eliminates the threat of oxidation from unnecessary pumping of the must. Since 1985, Louis Latour has been selling the wines of its own vineyards under the name Domaine Louis Latour.
Louis Latour has been a leader in environmentally responsible winemaking for over 15 years. Louis Latour has had ISO 14001 accreditation for Environmental Management Systems since 2003 and has been part of the European association FARRE since 1998- a group of like-minded companies who seek to develop and promote sustainable methods of agriculture.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Prevailing over the charming village of Aloxe, the hill of Corton actually commands the entire appellation. Corton is the only Grand Cru for Pinot Noir in the entire Côte de Beaune. Its Grand Crus red wines can be described simply as “Corton” or Corton hyphenated with other names. These vineyards cover the southeast face of the hill of Corton where soils are rich in red chalk, clay and marl.
Dense and austere when young, the best Corton Pinot Noir will peak in complexity and flavor after about a decade, offering some of the best rewards in cellaring among Côte de Beaune reds. Pommard and Volnay offer similar potential.
The great whites of the village are made within Corton-Charlemagne, a cooler, narrow band of vineyards at the top of the hill that descends west towards the village of Pernand-Vergelesses. Here the thin and white stony soils produce Chardonnay of exceptional character, power and finesse. A minimum of five years in bottle is suggested but some can be amazing long after. Fully half of Aloxe-Corton is considered Grand Cru.