Corton (wine)

The Corton hill as seen from southwest. The Corton vineyards on this side of the hill are located in Aloxe-Corton.

A view over Pernand-Vergelesses and surrounding vineyards, with the Corton hill on the left side.

Three bottles of red Corton showing different usages of climat designations. On the left, a wine with no indication of specific climat, in the middle a wine where Le Rognet is indicated in small print, and on the right a wine from Les Renardes, written hyphenated with Corton as "Corton-Renardes".

Corton is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for red and white wine in Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy. It is located on a hill shared between the three villages of Aloxe-Corton, Pernand-Vergelesses and Ladoix in the Côte de Beaune, Burgundy. The appellation covers the lower parts of the Corton hill and includes several subordinate vineyard names, or climats, within the AOC. Because of the size of the AOC and the variability of these climats, it is the rule rather than the exception that the name of the climat is indicated together with that of the Corton AOC, leading to designations such as Corton Clos du Roi and Corton Les Bressandes. Corton is rare in this aspect, as the 'climat' is seldom used for other Grand Cru appellations in Côte d'Or. The AOC was created in 1937.

Corton wines are mostly red (around 95 per cent of the total production in the AOC) and made from the Pinot Noir grape, however a smaller quantity of white Corton from Chardonnay is also produced. Around 500,000 bottles a year are produced from the vines.^[1]

The Corton appellation itself is the Côte de Beaune's only Grand Cru appellation for red wine, and is the largest Grand Cru of Burgundy.

Production

In 2008, 94.78 hectares (234.2 acres) of vineyard surface was in production within the AOC, and 2,984 hectoliter of wine was produced, of which 2,822 hectoliter red and 162 hectoliter white.^[2] This corresponds to just under 400,000 bottles, of which just over 21,000 were white Corton.

Producers

As with most Burgundy vineyards, several different producers own parts of the vineyard and produce and sell their own finished wines, or sell their grapes or wines to négociant-éleveurs for vinification or bottling and distribution.

Corton, Corton-Charlemagne and Charlemagne

There are three partially overlapping Grand Cru AOCs that cover the vineyards on the Corton hill; Corton for red and white wine, Corton-Charlemagne for white wine, and the little used Charlemagne for white wine. Corton-Charlemagne from Chardonnay grapes mostly originate from the higher parts of the hill. The vineyard surface of these three appellations totalled 147.5 hectares (364 acres) in 2008.^[2] Many vineyard parcels on the hill are allowed to be used either for red Corton or white Corton-Charlemagne.

Climats

The following climats exist within the Corton AOC:^[3]

In Aloxe-Corton:

Les Pougets Les Languettes Le Corton Les Renardes Les Grèves Le Clos du Roi

Les Chaumes Les Perrières Les Bressandes Les Paulands Les Maréchaudes

Les Fiètres Le Meix Lallemand Clos des Meix Les Combes La Vigne au Saint

In Ladoix-Serrigny:

Le Rognet et Corton Clos des Cortons Faiveley Les Moutottes

Les Carrières Basses Mourottes Hautes Mourottes

Les Vergennes Les Grandes Lolières La Toppe au Vert

In Pernand-Vergelesses:

ïle des Vergelesses Les Basses Vergelesses les Fichots

Creux de la Net En Caradeux

Les Plantes des Champs et Combottes Sous Les Clos Berthet

References

1. ^ Joseph, Robert. French Wines. Dorling Kindersley. p. 105. ISBN 0-7513-0793-9. 
2. ^ ^{a b} BIVB: Les Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée de Bourgogne, accessed on October 30, 2009
3. ^ BIVB: Corton

See also

• French wine
• List of Burgundy Grand Crus

Coordinates: 47°04′23″N 4°52′01″E / 47.07306°N 4.86694°E / 47.07306; 4.86694