2022 Corton Le Rognet Grand Cru, Claude Leblanc

Two bottles available. Grand Cru Corton from the Ladoix side of the hill.

Corton is the only red Grand Cru in the Côte de Beaune, and it is not one vineyard but a ring of climats wrapped around a single hill. Le Rognet sits on the north-eastern flank, in the commune of Ladoix-Serrigny rather than Aloxe-Corton, which makes it the odd one out.

Why Le Rognet is worth knowing

When the courts drew the Corton boundary on 17 November 1937, they excluded nearly all of the Ladoix and Pernand land. Le Rognet et Corton was the one Ladoix climat they let in. The name comes from land rogné, clipped off, from the Corton lieu-dit over the centuries.

It sits on the Calcaire de Ladoix, the hard oolitic limestone band that rings the hill and resists the erosion that softens the marls higher up. South-east facing, steep, on shallow clay-limestone soil over stone. The wines from this band run dark-fruited and structured rather than perfumed: blackcurrant and blueberry, liquorice and pepper, with the tannin to carry them for a decade or two.

Who makes it

Claude Leblanc is a family négociant business, founded in Beaune in 1978 and run today by Yvan Leblanc. They work in partnership with growers who vinify and age the wines under the Leblanc label. We would rather tell you that plainly than describe them as a domaine, which they are not.

The details

• Label: Claude Leblanc
• Appellation: Corton Grand Cru
• Climat: Le Rognet et Corton, Ladoix-Serrigny, Côte de Beaune
• Vintage: 2022
• Grape: 100% Pinot Noir
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: approachable from around 2028, with a core drinking window into the 2040s

We are not listing an alcohol figure or an ageing regime because neither is published, and we have not found a critic score for this wine in any vintage. It is a small négociant bottling of a rarely-seen climat, which is exactly why it is here and exactly why it has no press.

The 2022 vintage

The driest, warmest and sunniest year on record in Burgundy, and yet the wines kept their shape. What saved it was June: rainfall at double the normal level refilled the water table after a dry spring, so the vines coasted through the hot summer instead of shutting down. Yields came in healthy in both colours, a night-and-day contrast with the frost-ruined 2021. The reds are red-fruited, floral and balanced, with unusually ripe, melting tannins.

Serving and pairing

Decant an hour ahead and serve at 60 to 62°F. Duck, game birds, mushrooms, or a roast chicken worth the occasion. Young Corton wants either time or air; give it one or the other.

Two bottles, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. Browse more Burgundy.