96 Robert Parker
From 40 year old vines on the Aloxe side of the cru, Coche?s 2006 Corton-Charlemagne is intensely bitter-sweet and chalky throughout. Black tea, pugent herbs, iris, narcissus, and an alkaline, saline note suggestive of ocean breezes greet the nose. On the palate, this grips with penetrating pungency and tactile stoniness, leaving behind a memorable concentrate of chalk, salts, faintly bitter herbal essences, along with marrow and animal bone reduction. Surely it will go on to further glory in the bottle and should reward 15 or more years? cellaring. I have not tasted the 2005, a wine that already appears to be legendary.
Jean-Francois Coche?s 2006s did not even begin their malo-lactic transformation until high summer, and several were not finished when I last tasted there in November, 2007. Coche does not think 2006 quite measures up to 2002 or 2005, and given the amazing wines he rendered in the latter vintage, one can appreciate his perspective. Nonetheless, few if any other 2006s I tasted were able to combine complexity and charm, vintage-typical ripeness and verve in the way these did.
From 40 year old vines on the Aloxe side of the cru, Coche?s 2006 Corton-Charlemagne is intensely bitter-sweet and chalky throughout. Black tea, pugent herbs, iris, narcissus, and an alkaline, saline note suggestive of ocean breezes greet the nose. On the palate, this grips with penetrating pungency and tactile stoniness, leaving behind a memorable concentrate of chalk, salts, faintly bitter herbal essences, along with marrow and animal bone reduction. Surely it will go on to further glory in the bottle and should reward 15 or more years? cellaring. I have not tasted the 2005, a wine that already appears to be legendary.
Jean-Francois Coche?s 2006s did not even begin their malo-lactic transformation until high summer, and several were not finished when I last tasted there in November, 2007. Coche does not think 2006 quite measures up to 2002 or 2005, and given the amazing wines he rendered in the latter vintage, one can appreciate his perspective. Nonetheless, few if any other 2006s I tasted were able to combine complexity and charm, vintage-typical ripeness and verve in the way these did.