Domaine Ramonet’s holding in Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru represents a less widely known but genuinely significant facet of this celebrated Chassagne-Montrachet estate’s portfolio, extending the domaine’s white wine expertise into the 70-hectare Grand Cru that stretches across the Corton hill above Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton and Ladoix-Serrigny. Corton-Charlemagne produces Chardonnay of exceptional weight, mineral depth and ageing potential from its limestone and iron-rich clay soils, and the finest examples from quality producers develop over fifteen to twenty years in the cellar into wines of extraordinary complexity that approach the weight and mineral depth of the very finest white Burgundy. Ramonet’s meticulous winemaking approach, combining natural fermentation, limited new oak and the same transparency of method that has made the Chassagne and Puligny Grand Cru white wines so consistently celebrated, should translate to this terroir with the same clarity and depth that the domaine achieves from its home appellation.

The 2022 Corton-Charlemagne vintage was warm and produced wines of outstanding concentration and aromatic richness from the Grand Cru’s naturally weighty limestone and clay soils. For a producer of Ramonet’s philosophical restraint and transparency, the 2022’s warmth should be expressed as a wine of considerable breadth and early aromatic appeal without the over-extraction or oakiness that less thoughtful winemaking can impose on Chardonnay from this naturally powerful terroir. The wine will require patience, as all serious Corton-Charlemagne does, but the combination of the 2022’s concentration and Ramonet’s transparency of method promises a wine of long-term development and genuine Grand Cru authority.

Ramonet Corton-Charlemagne is among the most unusual and collectible expressions of this Grand Cru currently available: a wine produced by Burgundy’s most revered white wine domaine from a Grand Cru appellation outside its home commune, in a vintage of excellent quality, at production levels even more restricted than the already tiny quantities of the domaine’s Chassagne Grand Crus. For those who collect Ramonet’s work comprehensively, this is an essential and unexpected discovery.

Pale gold with a concentrated and mineral nose of ripe peach, lemon cream, toasted almond, flint, chalk and a fine iron-mineral thread from the Corton-Charlemagne clay-limestone Grand Cru soils. Full-bodied with excellent concentration, good natural freshness and a very long, mineral, structured finish of genuine Grand Cru weight and authority. Best from 2028 through 2048.