2016 Corton Clos du Roi
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Corton Clos du Roi Grand Cru is immensely impressive, unfurling in the glass with aromas of wild blueberries, raspberries and cassis that mingle with notions of dark chocolate, musk, violets and ineffable savory bass notes. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, satiny and multidimensional, with superb concentration, tangy acids and a long, searingly mineral finish. It's one of the two or three finest expressions of the hill of Corton to be found—with the domaine's fleshier, more gourmand Corton Bressandes not far behind. As readers may know, the de Nicolays’ holdings in the Clos du Roi are located at the top of this large vineyard, where the soils are redder and sandier than those classified—in white—as Corton-Charlemagne but which feature the same type of marl.
Critic scores
Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
(from a very steep, rocky slope just below Le Corton; made with 80% whole clusters but the team crushes the fruit gently by foot because they like to start the fermentation with some juice at the bottom): Good dark red. The most floral of these '16s on the nose, offering captivating aromas of blackberry, licorice and salty, flinty minerality. Delivers a rare combination of silky texture and peppery energy, with its dark raspberry, licorice and effervescent spice flavors showing terrific definition and verve. Finishes broad, very long and refined, with wonderfully suave tannins and slowly mounting flavors of licorice and flowers. A wine of superb intensity and class, and sweeter on the back end than the Bressandes.