The superb 2002 Corton-Charlemagne boasts an awesome nose of buttered spices. Medium to full-bodied, it has great breadth, richness, power, and length. Satiny-textured, pure, and opulent, it regales the palate with juicy minerals, spices, and a myriad of fresh herbs. This concentrated, muscular, ample wine should be at its peak between 2009 and 2016.

Jean Marie Guffens is ecstatic about 2002. “This is the best vintage we’ve done at Verget. From Macon to the Cote d’Or to Chablis, it is like a concentrated 1992. We were able to harvest in each area at the optimal time. We have great ripeness, not overripe, with excellent acidity, and the bulk prices that we paid actually dropped. The only problem in 2002 was some volatile acidity during fermentation, so we used more sulphur earlier than usual. Alcoholic fermentations took an extremely long time, and some of our malolactic fermentations were completed before the sugar was all eaten.”