Corton 2019 Domaine de la Romanee Conti

Corton 2019 is the red Grand Cru produced by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in the Côte de Beaune, made from Pinot Noir grapes grown on the limestone hills above Aloxe-Corton. This wine is produced from three climats, Le Clos du Roi, Les Bressandes, and Les Renardes, which were leased from the heirs of the Prince de Merode in November 2008, and yielded their first harvest the following year. It took several vintages for the wine to develop its own distinct character.

By 2019, those characteristics had become firmly established. The growing season for Burgundy was anything but peaceful: frost struck on the night of the 4th of April, followed by additional frosts on the 12th and 15th of April; in the low-lying areas of Côte de Beaune, up to 60% of the harvest was lost, though the grapes for red wine suffered less damage than those for white wine. Subsequently, cool June rain disrupted flowering, leading to the millerandage, characterized by small, low-juice berries. Toward the end of the month, temperatures exceeded 40°C, and a second heat wave persisted from the 23rd to the 26th of July. Rain in mid-August helped the grapes ripen, and the harvest took place in September, which was relatively late by recent standards.

Burgundy produced 1.2 million hectolitres in 2019, falling short of the average of 1.5 million hectoliters. Small berries, low yields, concentrated wines.