Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru A.-F. Gros 2019

Lot presentation

Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru A.-F. Gros 2019

The wine

Anne-Françoise Gros founded this Burgundy estate in the late 1980s. Here, she offers us a wine from the famous Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, made from Chardonnay. The vines thrive on a hillside with an incline of 20–23%, drawing the nutrients they require from fairly rare and varied soils consisting of rendzina, white marl, clay and limestone. The vines are tended with the greatest care, with no use of chemicals, ploughed soils and selective pruning to ensure high yields. The grapes are hand-picked and thoroughly sorted before the vinification process, which involves slow pressing, fermentation in oak casks and a year’s ageing in wood, with 50% new wood. The resulting wine is then bottled without prior filtration.
Designed for long ageing, this wine displays an array of intense aromas of baked apples, citrus and yellow fruit, as well as almond, honey and sweet spices.

About the Producer A.F. Gros

Côtes de Nuits wine lovers are well aware that the name Gros encapsulates a mosaic of estates intertwined in many ways. The original estate (Domaine Louis Gros) was split into three between his children, leading to the creation of the Gros Frère et Soeur, François Gros and Jean Gros estates in the early 1970s. At the latter, Anne-Françoise Gros tended her own plots under the Domaine A-F. Gros name, in partnership with her husband François Parent, combining his vines with hers. Today, the estate stretches over 10 hectares, primarily across the renowned climats of Pommard and Vosne-Romanée: Richebourg, Echezeaux, Chambolle-Musigny, Pommard… Anne-Françoise and François have now handed over the reins of the estate to the next generation, now run by Caroline and Mathias Parent, two of their three children. Caroline is in charge of distribution. As for Mathias, he is responsible for production. He first learned from his father, vinifying the 2011 and 2012 vintages alongside him before going it alone. After the purchase of 3.6 hectares in the Moulin-à-Vent AOC in 2017, Mathias has been exploring new terroirs and, more importantly, experimenting with new, more personal winemaking methods. Ever since, the estate has been ageing wines in casks of varying ages, with the grapes not always being destalked, especially for their finest cuvées (up to 50% whole bunches).