Domaine Dubreuil-Fontaine Corton-Bressandes Grand Cru 2018

Domaine Dubreuil-Fontaine has remained a fixture of the Côte de Beaune since the late 1800s. The estate possesses 20 hectares of prime vineyards within Corton, as well as the nearby villages of Beaune, Volnay, Pommard and their home estate in the medieval town of Pernand-Vergelesses. This holding, where 35+ year old vines fight for water on a mixture of clay and limestone marl, sits at the top of the portfolio, considered to be their most age-worthy offering.

The wine is a deep, intense red raspberry color that showcases a complex aroma of flowers, fruit and spice that range from roses and peonies to red currants and cherries, to spicy notes of supple leather, baked clay and powdered cocoa. The taste is lusciously concentrated with silky tannins and plenty of structure. The oak notes, with 30%+ new French at play, are present and just starting to integrate into the overall profile. Give this a bit more time, or a vigorous decant, then sit back, relax and enjoy over the next two decades.

Christine Dubreuil is a recent recipient of the prestigious "Les Femmes aux Commandes" award from one of France’s leading Burgundy publications, Bourgogne Aujourd'Hui, in part for her transformation and modernization of the estate since taking over from her father Bernard. She focuses on initial hand-sorting during harvest, to full-destemming and additional hand-sorting in the winery. Christine has also transitioned to stainless steel fermentations and less-frequent punchdowns to achieve fiercely energetic and highly polished wines with alluring textures. In the warm, powerful vintage of 2018, Christine had this to say:

"It was a fairly quick harvest, eight or nine days, around normal. The growing season had been easy with fine weather, quite hot during summer but without hydric stress since there was quite a bit of water in the soil from the previous winter. There is good quantity…and there were quite high sugar levels, so that alcohol levels are…higher for the reds, between 13%, in some cases over 14% and a couple of reaching 15% that didn’t finish their sugars. We had to inoculate those again with yeast. That’s the first vintage that I have seen at those levels, though there seems good balance. It’s the vintage that everyone dreams of."

Time for the bad news… We don’t have much. ONLY 10 CASES, in fact. Do what you must and make sure you get yours while you can!

PAIRING IDEAS: Everybody keeps duck confit in their freezer at all times, right? Good, ‘cause you’ll need it to complete this amazing dish of Duck with Sour Cherry Sauce and Apple-Fennel Salad. If you don’t have the duck, here’s how to make a batch!

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: The great Billie Holiday tying things off with a perfect bow here… Take a listen to “Them There Eyes”.