Benjamin Leroux Corton Grand Cru 2019

A lively and enticing wine, this effort beautifully portrays the freshness and harmony for such a young grand cru. The nose is fragrant and expressive with cherry blossoms and lavender, leading to a warm medley of plums and bergamot on the long, spicy and mouth-watering finish. This is delightfully tempting now, but those will patience will be rewarded exponentially.

2018 & 2019 are both excellent vintages for Burgundy – especially at the Grand Cru site of Corton. While the warm ‘18 vintage produced concentrated, full-bodied wines that will last a lifetime (or longer), the ‘19 vintage is shaping up to be an all-time classic – with the best sites (like this) combining elegance, endurance, and freshness with seamless integration. You can’t go wrong with either Burghounds and at this price… you probably should do one of each and thank me later!

Along the northern tip of the revered Cote de Beaune reigns the Hill of Corton. Since the 8th century, wine grapes have been cultivated along the natural amphitheater on the south side of this massive hill, making for the largest grand cru in all of Burgundy. The region was championed centuries ago by Emperor Charlemagne for the exceptionally high quality of its wines and has never looked back.

Ben Leroux did not come into this world with such an illustrious pedigree. He was born in Beaune to parents who ran a local flower shop, La Violette. At a time when wine jobs (and most others) were passed down through the family, Ben decided from an early age to break the mold and enroll in a trade school to learn how to make wine. A supremely driven and engaged whirlwind of experiences would follow, with stints at Cos d'Estournel in Bordeaux, Domaine Drouhin in Oregon, Louis Jadot in Beaune, and others, finally settling at Comte Armand in Pommard, where he was named technical director and manager at the age of 24! Years later, he would accomplish his ambition of starting his own Domaine, buying a tiny 0.16-hectare parcel of Batard-Montrachet. Built slowly over time, he now owns and farms 8 hectares scattered throughout Burgundy, as well as being a negociant for other parcels of rare Burgundy treasures.

Whether farming the land or purchasing fruit, Ben makes uses organic and typically biodynamic techniques (or purchases from thointese who follow suit). The wines are fermented with up to 30% whole clusters, with native fermentations that last about 3 weeks. The finished wine will age in barrels for up to 22 months, with up to 30% new French oak. These are both powerful wines, with a greater depth and intensity than the 2018, but that is not to mark the 2019 as shy in any way. For now, at least, the 2019 showcases an easy approachability not yet seen in the 2018, but both of these wines are tremendously layered and powerful hallmarks of Corton, with decades of drinking ahead of them. While $150 a bottle is steep for any wine, this is a relative steal for this Grand Cru – a worthy competitor of similarly placed wines costing twice as much!