Domaine Parent Corton Grand Cru Blanc 2023

This white Corton Grand Cru is born on the hill of Corton, in the north of the Côte de Beaune, one of the most famous landmarks in Burgundy. The vines of Domaine Parent, a family house established in Pommard for nearly thirteen generations, take root in clay-limestone soils from which Chardonnay draws fine density. The estate, certified organic since 2013, farms its vines using biodynamic methods, with partial ploughing by horse on the grands crus.

The grapes are harvested by hand and then whole-bunch pressed. Alcoholic and malolactic fermentations take place in new French oak barrels, with light bâtonnage. The wine is then aged on the lees for 14 to 16 months, then bottled at the estate, to combine richness of texture, precision and the radiance of the terroir.

This wine reveals notes of pear, apricot, yellow peach, candied lemon, hawthorn, toasted hazelnut, brioche, fresh butter and flint. The bright green-gold colour heralds a rich, dense palate, lifted by vibrant minerality. The balance between breadth and tension gives a wine of great breeding, energetic and precise, with a long, saline finish.

The cradle of wine culture in Western Europe, France owes its first vines to the Greeks of Phocaea, who settled around Marseille some twenty-six centuries ago, before the Romans spread viticulture along the Rhône and the Garonne and as far as Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian and Benedictine monks cleared the slopes of Burgundy and patiently mapped out the climats, laying the foundations of the notion of terroir. The 19th century brought the glory of the classifications, then the disaster of phylloxera, which wiped out the vineyards before they were rebuilt on American rootstocks; the creation of the appellations d'origine contrôlée in the 1930s then set the rules that would inspire the whole world. Today, France vies every year with Italy and Spain for first place in world production by volume and remains the ultimate benchmark of the Old World, as much for its age-worthy wines as for its winemaking models. Vineyards cover almost the entire country, from the cool north of Champagne and Alsace to the Mediterranean shores of Languedoc and Provence, by way of the oceanic climates of Bordeaux, the Loire and the South-West, continental Burgundy, the steep slopes of the northern Rhône and the high-altitude valleys of Savoie and the Jura. This mosaic of soils – limestone, schist, gravel or rounded pebbles – explains the extraordinary diversity of styles. As for grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Bordeaux and produce structured reds, Pinot Noir is the signature of Burgundian finesse, Syrah of the depth of the Rhône, while Grenache, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Mourvèdre cover every register, from easy-drinking wines to wines for long ageing. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin, Riesling and Viognier offer expressions ranging from lively and mineral to unctuous, all the way to great sweet wines. A land of benchmarks and constant discoveries, France remains the compass for wine lovers the world over.