Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru rouge 2014 by Chandon de Briailles: biodynamic Pinot Noir from the Corton hill, silky, fruit-intense and mineral – an elegant, age-worthy Grand Cru from the hill of Corton.
Youthful and initially reductive – with air, intense blackcurrants and cherries emerge, alongside elderberry, chestnut, orange peel, juniper and undergrowth, with a fine, faintly ferruginous note.
Palate
A silky texture meets powerful dark fruit with hints of forest floor; clear, brilliant acidity, racy freshness and pronounced minerality with plenty of room to develop.
Character
Shows the gentler side of Corton: despite its youthful power, it already displays impressive stature – at present it needs at least a day of air or a decanter.
Pairing
Bœuf Bourguignon, bavette with grilled spring onions, or haunch of young venison with grapes and thyme.
Notes
Demeter-certified Grand Cru from one of the finest Corton vineyard sites; the 1.12 hectares lie on iron-rich limestone soil, and the estate is the only one in Burgundy to work its vineyards entirely with horses.
Tasting note
Colour & appearance
Medium yet intense cherry red, ringing bright in the glass as is customary with truly great Pinot Noir.
Nose
Youthfully sealed, initially reductive — air (ideally a day, or a decanter if necessary) cuts the wine free from its shell. Then broad and polyphonic: blackcurrant, cherry, elderberry and chestnut, alongside orange peel, juniper and undergrowth. Somewhere in the background, a distant, almost ghostly iron note — imagination? The soil suggests otherwise.
Palate
Here Bressandes shows why Corton can do more than the sledgehammer attitude so often attributed to it. Silky in texture, with clear, brilliant acidity and dark fruit threaded through with forest floor. Nervy, agile, charged with minerality — and surprisingly gentle for a vineyard site generally considered strict and masculine. Whoever opens it now drinks an announcement; the real performance follows in years to come.
Finish
Long and cool, with dark fruit and a fine, tightly woven tannin structure that carries far into the future.
Terroir & origin
Les Bressandes lies midway up the Corton hill, below Clos du Roi and Les Renardes. Chandon de Briailles cultivates 1.12 hectares here across four parcels on Bajocian and Oxfordian limestone with pebbles, clay and a high iron content. Vines around 35 years old, harvested in mid-September 2014.
Grape variety & vinification
Pure Pinot Noir, fermented with 40–50 % whole bunches — the house standard since 2011. Like all the domaine’s reds, the wine ages discreetly in wood (a maximum of 15–20 % new casks), without fining or filtration: François de Nicolay calls this “neo-classical Burgundy”.
Food recommendations
A wine for the region’s cuisine: Bœuf Bourguignon, bavette with grilled spring onions and raspberry vinegar jus or venison haunch with grilled grapes and thyme.
Special features
Chandon de Briailles is the only estate in Burgundy to plough its entire 14 hectares or so with horses — Demeter-certified since 2011, vinifying in a cellar dating back to the 12th century. The 2014 defied hail and spotted wing drosophila to become a picture-perfect, fruit-driven vintage: William Kelley of the Wine Advocate confirms that the domaine draws out the full potential of Corton. This wine is the proof — a Grand Cru that demands patience and rewards it with interest for decades.
