Vincent Girardin Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2019

As you may have already read, the 2019 vintage in Burgundy has been widely lauded and early expectations are that it could end up being one of the best of all-time. Laurent Drouhin called the vintage, “a perfect storm” and he’s not one to mix words.

I’ve seen comparisons to 2014, 2002, 1996, and 1985. The craziest one I saw was from the former director of Bouchard, Bernard Hervet, who said that 2019 has a chance to rival 1865– long considered to be Burgundy’s best ever!

The reason for this is clear– with the current technology, improved winemaking techniques and an abundance of talent in the vineyards and cellars, any vintage where the weather is decent throughout the year, especially during harvest, is a recipe for an epic vintage. In 2019, the weather was nearly perfect throughout the entire growing season. If there was one ‘slight problem’ for some, it was that there were two heat spikes in the summer where things could get dicey. But not everywhere in Burgundy.

Where it never got remotely dicey, was at the northern tip of Cote de Beaune, separated by dense woodland and the great Montagne de Corton hill, a lozenge-shaped hill where three villages meet. That’s where a natural amphitheater in the heart of its own mesoclimate, helps give birth to some of the best white wines in the world. It also stays remarkably cool here even on the hottest of days.

In the 2019 vintage in particular, winemakers were treated to a perfect, even year. The early results coming in from that vintage, in that teeny, tiny AVA home to some of the finest White Burgundies, are nothing short of staggering. Specifically, the southern half of the hill, the Grand Cru designate, produced some extraordinary wines. Some of the most electric, collectors worthy gems of the vintage.