“The new generation at Chapuis prioritizes gentle extraction, small basket harvests, and gravity-based winemaking. Their Grand Cru wines exude delightful characters while remaining reasonably priced.” – Falstaff

Speaking of…

Here’s our FIRST offering ever, from Agent Noir’s favorite vineyard on earth.

King Charlemagne’s namesake is such a storied place that, legend has it, Screaming Eagle’s sister winery Bonneau du Martray, the largest shareholder of Corton Charlemagne fruit, gifted some of it to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti so that they could make their second white wine ever after Montrachet.

Time will tell if DRC’s “Corton Charlie” will reach the price insanity Coche-Dury has, whose bottles go for over $5,000 today.

With feet back on the ground, we were flabbergasted with the opportunity to offer you one under $200, which has become an increasingly rare place to see better examples of Corton Charlemagne.

UK trade publication The Drinks Business recently highlighted this beauty, raving that it’s “from parcels of Les Languettes, Les Pougets et Le Charlemagne with an optimal Southern and South-Eastern exposition on marly limestone and clay at 280 to 330 metres. Both gloriously opulent, lush, plush and plump and, at the same time, seriously chiselled, bright, crisp and crunchy in its fruit signature. Beeswax, lime zest, lime cordial and white grapefruit, gooseberry, a little hint of mimosa and jasmine too, a subtle flinty minerality and a gentle sprinkling of ginger and aromatic spices. On the palate this is intense and structured, fluid and dynamic, but rich and full. Above all, though, it is sinuous, the fruit though bound quite closely to the spine, having just enough range to flow where its whimsy takes it. Relaxed and gracious.”

In a word, DREAMY. To quote Sotheby’s, this is proof that “Corton-Charlemagne is indisputably one of the great Grands Crus of Burgundy.”

Burghound adds that “this 12 ha Domaine has existed since 1850 and has long been one of the reference standards in Corton-Charlemagne. It’s directed today by the très sympa Maurice Chapuis. He describes his philosophy in the vineyards as ‘conventional, but I plow my vines and have never used chemical weed killers’. The harvest is performed manually, and the sorting is done in the vineyards to prevent substandard fruit from contaminating the clean and healthy fruit. The fruit is 100% destemmed and given 4 to 5 days of cool maceration, after which there are 3 to 4 punch downs at the very beginning of the fermentation, but thereafter I use only pump overs during the remaining 10 to 12 days. The new wine is then racked into large tanks for 48 hours to allow the heavy lees to settle out, and then it is racked into barrels where 10 to 15% of them are new, except for the Grands Crus at around 50%. The élevage period typically lasts 14 months for the whites.’”

Sadly, the few cases we could secure will be gone in no time.

94 Points – Jane Anson “Pale gold in colour, opens with cold ash, citrus, baking spice, grated ginger, with an edge of steel. Excellent quality, this is vivid and full of charm. Pierre Chapuis winemaker, from a tiny plot of less than 1ha of vines.”