2004 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne

2004 Bouchard Corton Charlemagne

It's got that nutty-hayseed thing on the nose, but wow - with a very angular, primary, yet highly delineated & focussed acidity.

Have to agree with Tanzer's effusive praise of this wine.

I don't have any experience in cellaring a wine of this stature & pedigree, but I wouldn't be surprised if it needed a good couple of decades to come into its own.

Which of course begs the question of premature oxidation - but if PremOx could strike such a powerful, almost savage wine as this, then life really wouldn't be fair.

If I could afford the price of admission [which I can't], then I'd be purchasing this one by the case.

Thanks for the tasting note. Corton-Charlemagne has more often than not pleasantly surprised me by its ability to age well.

-Paul W.

Corton-Charlemagne has more often than not pleasantly surprised me by its ability to age well.

Yeah, if I were a gazillionare, this is all that I'd drink.

Tough to enjoy a "value" chardonnay when you have the memory of this wine seared into your brain.

Corton-Charlemagne has more often than not pleasantly surprised me by its ability to age well.

Yeah, if I were a gazillionare, this is all that I'd drink.

Tough to enjoy a "value" chardonnay when you have the memory of this wine seared into your brain.

Try a wine from Le Montrachet from a good producer in a good year someday. It can make Corton-Charlemagne pale by comparison.

These wines, along with certain Grand Cru Chablis, are why the chardonnay grape variety has its great reputation. And there's a whole flock of Burgundian producers of chardonnay right behind them. Some with excellent QPR (or, at least they had that before the collapse of the dollar vs. the euro).

Oh, and it also would be unfair to exclude some of the top New World producers. Chateau Montelena, for one, has produced consistently excellent chardonnay year in and year out.

-Paul W.

Am I ther only one to ask myself whether "Bouchard" is "Bouchard Père (& Fils)" or "Bouchard Aîné (& Fils)", the latter aka "BAF"?

Whichever one it was that Tanzer liked so much.

Judging from the labels, I'm pretty sure it was Pere, not Aine.

Actually, now that I've checked Tanzer's site, it was Pere:

http://search.wineaccess.com/?q=bouchard+corton+charlemagne

Tanzer's original note is here.

[Apparently he upgraded the score recently, to 96+].

Anyway, it is one whale of a wine.

If I had an extra $1200, I wouldn't hesitate to grab a case.

Nathan, thanks for clarifying!