We had this wine tonight with shrimp bisque.

The color was a light green-gold, reminiscent of a young Chablis. The nose was very subdued with a bit of apples, not unlike a Riesling. On the palate, the wine was quite crisp with plenty of acidty and citrus flavors. Very little oak was noticeable, almost like an INOX. Austere. May improve. Me 88. My wife 86. I have yet to have an outstanding wine from Louis Latour. I expect a Corton-Charlemagne to be a much bigger, oakier wine. This wine is available locally at $50, but I won't be buying any more of it. This is probably the worst Corton-Charlemagne I've ever had, though still a good wine, but a major disappointment for a Grand Cru.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Board-O,

Board-O,

What's an INOX?

Usually, I like Latour regular Chablis (and haven't tried their other white), but I was very disappointed by their 1999 Corton-B... Grand Cru red. How could WS possibly give 95-100 rating? It was very green and hard-edged. After this bottle, I'm not going to buy red from them anymore.

DP

quote:

I expect a Corton-Charlemagne to be a much bigger, oakier wine.

That sounds more like their Batard.

DP-INOX is one of Brewer-Clifton's Chard

I believe INOX is some sort of acronym for a wine made entirely without the use of oak.

Board-O,
Pickup some 99' or especially the 00' Bonneau Du Martray CC. Both can be had for between $50-$70 last time I checked and they deliver the goods.
M61

Bonneau du Martray is my favorite producer of Corton-Charlemagne. I've had some great ones from Prosper Mafoux, but I haven't seen any of them in years.

"Acier inoxydable" is the French for stainless steel. Board-O is right, except that it's an abbreviation and not an acronym.

Thanks for the information. I assumed it was an acronym because everytime I've seen "INOX," all letters were capitalized, even on labels where other words had only the first letter capitalized.

about a year ago I tasted through 10 whites from L.L. I would not have bought any of them or given a rating over 86 to any (01 and 02 vintage). One had serious over sulfur issues. I've been buying Girardin and Sauzet mainly for my white Burgs.

I've found several of the big names in Burgundy winemaking to produce wines consistently below the 90 point level: Louis Latour, Joseph Drouhin, Faiveley, to name a few. I think their reputations as producers of outstanding wine is unwarranted.

Faiveley... What a waste of grapes.

I've had some very good Faiveley wines, but never one I'd call outstanding or purchase again. I think the greatest dry wines in the world come from Burgundy, but so do a myriad of disappointments.

Board-O,

You are spot on with Burgundies. The best wines I have ever had were mature Burgundies, both white and red. The problem is sorting through the young ones to figure out how they will evolve. Even picking the best producers isn't a sure thing. Frustrating for the price of admission.

I agree completely. I think Parker's weakness is evaluating young red Burgundies. I bought a lot of Grand Crus on release that he rated highly that never developed into anything special. I've had a lot of disappointing Burgundy, but the great successes atone for them.