Wine Advisor
Bonneau du Martray, Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru 2008
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2008 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is performing nicely from bottle, even if it's not quite as it was five or six years ago, offering up aromas of orange oil, fresh pear, honeycomb, dried apricot and nutty, toasty oak. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, with racy acids, chalky grip and a lactic quality that I suspect derives from the vintage's high levels of malic acid. This is a contender for Bonneau du Martray's finest Corton-Charlemagne of the 2000s.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at the IMW 2008 tasting at Vintners Hall. The Corton-Charlemagne ’08 is quite reserved on the nose, good mineralite with hints of Kaffir lime, Granny Smiths and limestone. The palate is very well balanced, understated on the entry, but then there is a tsunami of flavours hitting the back-palate: minerals, orange rind, a touch of dried honey and a little spice that continues through the aftertaste. Great persistency and drive here. Excellent. Tasted March 2011.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2008 Corton-Charlemagne comes across as super-classic in its chiseled fruit. Today the 2008 is holding back much of its potential, but there is plenty of energy and vitality in its focused, wiry frame. Lemon peel, lime and flowers are some of the notes that linger on the finish. Ideally the 2008 needs another year or two in bottle (and perhaps more) to show the full breadth of its personality. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2018. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Atlanta Wholesale Wines, Atlanta, GA; tel. (404) 696-9440; C'Est Vin, District of Columbia; tel. (703) 243-3559, Scott Paul Wines, Oregon; tel. (503) 852-7300, Wines Unlimited, Louisiana; tel. (504) 897-0191
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Very pale yellow-green color. Nose dominated by lime, crushed stone and steely minerality. Densely packed and almost painfully dry, with taut, penetrating citrus and mineral flavors showing more energy than flesh today. This ungiving grand cru has plenty of depth and flavor intensity but is an infant today. The stony, austere finish is like touching a live wire. This seems every bit as steely as the estate's 2007 at the same stage but denser; in fact, this may be even more closed.
About the Producer
Located in Pernand-Vergelesses in the Cote de Beaune region of France, Domaine Bonneau du Martray has a thousand-year-old vineyard and is the only Burgundy winery to produce only Grand Cru wines. The vineyards of Château Matelay currently cover over 11 hectares, of which 9.5 hectares are planted for the production of Chardonnay from Corten-Charlemagne, while the remaining area of the vineyard with more fertile soils is devoted to Pinot Noir, a Corten wine of steadily improving quality. The average age of the vines in the vineyard is 45 years. The owner, Joan Charles, has also introduced asexual propagation in the vineyard to replace the tired vines. Château Martlet produces only two wines, a white wine from the Corten-Charriman vineyard and a red wine from the Corten-Charriman vineyard. The white Chardonnay from the Corten-Charriman vineyard is a rich, thick wine with intense ripe fruit flavours, the best of all Chardonnay whites. The Colten Charlemagne white Chardonnay from Château Matelay is the best of the best. Fortunately, despite the excellent quality of the white wines produced here, they are affordable and offer excellent value for money. These wines are the result of the gift of nature meeting the perseverance of generations.
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