2016 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru Cote de Beaune 750 ml

Côte de Nuits. Chevalier-Montrachet. Côte de Beaune. Louis Latour has vineyards in all of these Grand Crus and is the largest owner of vines in the supremely coveted Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. More impressively, the domaine is still a family business — Louis-Fabrice is the eleventh generation of Latour to head the domaine. While he’s snapped up properties like Simonnet-Febvre in Chablis and Henry Fessy in Beaujolais, the domaine’s 118 acres in Burgundy are still nearest to his soul.

For the 2016 Domaine Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, he turns his attention to the limestone-rich slopes of the Grand Cru Corton-Charlemagne about a mile north of the medieval wine capital of Beaune. The Chardonnay vines thrived in 2015’s sun-soaked conditions, producing a creamy, near-tropical expression of terroir that instantly reminds why labels from Bourgogne command top dollar.

We grabbed glasses and a bottle of this 2016 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and headed outside on our last Burgundy trip, trekking through a mix of clay and rocks the size of tennis balls, walking between the rows, breathing in the air, lost in the moment, trying to grasp the significance of where we stood, walking north through the vines of Corton Clos du Roi and then along a limestone hillside until we came to Corton-Charlemagne—it was Everest to us. 

There, looking south down the hill, we could see all four Grand Cru sites that delivered grapes to the old cellar, where the wine was fermented, aged, and bottled. We’d taken with us one of those bottles so that it could journey backwards, through vineyards that gave it life, only to be uncorked and enjoyed within site of its beginnings, and just as the sun came out for a few sweet minutes. We swirled just taking it all in— 

These are vineyards that renowned Michael Mina sommelier and author Rajat Parr has singled out in his book as among the best in Corton. That the ground is holy and coveted is obvious when someone like billionaire Stan Kroenke (owner of Screaming Eagle) purchases an estate half a mile away from Château Corton Grancey.

None of that mattered though, because we were only thinking of you, our Wine Access friends. We hope you’ll keep this story, and take it out and read it again and again—each time you bring up a bottle of this Corton Charlemagne from your cellar. But don’t forget about us, and please, drop us a line, let us know if the sun is shining in your neck of the woods each time you pop open a bottle of this rarefied and wonderful Grand Cru Chardonnay.