This is Domaine Leroy's red Corton from the Renardes climat, made in 2015, a warm year that suited the hill's firm, iron-edged Pinot Noir. Lalou Bize-Leroy made only a tiny quantity, and it is a wine to lay down for decades rather than years.
About This Wine
Les Renardes lies on the Corton hill and has a reputation for a rustic, earthy streak alongside its power. Leroy's holding measures just over 0.5 hectares, and in 2015 it gave about two barrels, so very few bottles exist. The summer was hot and dry, yet visitors tasting the domaine's 2015s after bottling found little sign of heat in the reds. Early notes on this Corton describe a tightly wound, mineral wine of great length, with dark fruit, smoke and iron under swathes of firm tannin.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Blackberry and black cherry, with smoke, iron, incense and a savoury, earthy edge.
- Palate: Powerful and dense, with firm tannin wrapped around dark fruit and a strong mineral core.
- Finish: Very long, savoury and still tight, with spice and a lingering stony note.
Serving & Food
Still youthful, so give it a long decant of two hours or more and bring it to about 17°C in a wide Burgundy bowl. Expect it to open properly from the early 2030s and to keep for many years after. Roast venison, wild boar ragù or a wedge of aged Comté would stand up to it.
How to Enjoy
Anyone following Leroy's Grands Crus closely, and cellars with room to wait on a powerful, slow-maturing Corton.
Product Details
Producer: Domaine Leroy
Appellation: Corton Grand Cru, Les Renardes
Region: Côte de Beaune, Burgundy, France
Vintage: 2015
Grape: Pinot Noir
Farming: Biodynamic
Volume: 750mL
About the Domaine
The Leroy name goes back to 1868 and a family merchant house in Auxey-Duresses, but the domaine itself is much younger. In 1988 Lalou Bize-Leroy bought Domaine Charles Noëllat in Vosne-Romanée and the Philippe Remy vineyards in Gevrey-Chambertin, and farmed them biodynamically from the start, well before the approach caught on along the Côte d'Or. The estate now covers about 22 hectares, with holdings in nine Grands Crus and eight Premiers Crus.
Crops are cut hard through pruning and green harvesting, often to a fraction of what neighbours pick, and the wines are bottled without fining or filtration. Renardes is the domaine's red Corton, grown on a parcel of roughly half a hectare.