The 2014 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which is sourced from the Pernand side of the hill, has a precise bouquet with lemon peel, granite and smoky notes, almost Puligny-like in terms of its reserve. The palate is fresh and vibrant with good body, fine tension thanks to that keen line of acidity, with hints of orange peel towards the finish. This is a commendable Corton-Charlemagne in a year where I felt it did not particularly shine.

The 2012 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which comes from the Pernand side of the famous hill, has a touch of toffee on the nose: quite voluptuous and generous at this stage. The palate is harmonious and soft, with a fine line of acidity and a gras finish. I suspect this will turn out to be a forward Corton-Charlemagne, generous from birth and wide in girth.

The 2011 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (which goes through a relatively early malolactic) has a focused toffee apple, apricot blossom and wax resin bouquet. There is even a suggestion of licorice that lends it another dimension. The palate is well-balanced and very pure on the entry with subtle notes of dried apricot and lime, a twist of sour lemon and a long, harmonious finish. This is very endearing and will surely age with style. Drink 2015-2030. Prior to launching into Maison Lucien de Moine’s 2012 reds with irrepressible winemaker Mounir Saouma, we revisited some of his 2011s that are now in bottle. To recap, Mounir is one of the last Burgundy producers to bottle his wines, since he is a great believer in extended elevage. There is a clutch of outstanding wines in this vintage, particularly at the grand cru level, where one must admire the consistency across the board. As always, readers are reminded that Lucien Le Moine’s wines are made in a stringently reductive method, therefore they always need more decanting time than other growers. Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000, Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639

The 2010 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, which comes from the west side of the hill in Pernand, was never racked and had its first dose of sulphur not until July 2012. It has a heavenly bouquet with subtle scents of white peach and shaved almond that show wonderful definition and typicite. The palate is well-balanced with pleasing volume and depth on the entry, those leesy characteristics brimming to the surface but never obscuring the terroir. It is a very focused Corton-Charlemagne, exerting a gentle but insistent grip with a slight creaminess to the texture on the finish that needs just a soupcon more complexity to justify the promise of the nose. Drink now-2028+ I have intermittently encountered the wines of Lucien Le Moine over the years and even spent an evening dining with the man behind it, Mounir, on one admittedly inebriated dinner a few years ago. But it was time to visit the winery tucked away down a side-street in Beaune, and taste through an enormous selection of wines with the man himself. Since his first vintage in 1999, he has focused on buying fruit that expresses individual lieux-dits, so that his cellar consists of dozens of micro-Cuvees that take a whole morning to taste through. He is an extremely principled winemaker with strong, some might say controversial beliefs. Even before entering the barrel cellar, he opined that too many white Burgundies are picked too late and that both the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are completed too rapidly. Mornir likes two summers to complete the elevage and feels that too many vignerons bottle too early. He also used minimal sulphur for his wines, informing me that though his wines often start out deeper in color, they tend to become paler as they mature in bottle. I asked him about his opinion on the two vintages that we tasted together, the 2010 and 2011. “The 2010 and 2011 vintages have a lot of common points: low yields, fresh summer, both starting fruity and perhaps a little uniform,” he explained. “Then a year later, their personalities started coming out. The evolution of both vintages is similar. After a year and half they began to gain depth. When we picked 2010, people were talking about a light vintage, but now that is forgotten because they are so powerful. In 2011 they did the same. The 2010s achieved maturity naturally, but in 2011 we had to chaptalize most of the wines a little. I think it is an old style of Burgundy, how the wines were made before 1995. In 2010 we talk about tannins, but in 2011 we talk about more dry extract. You feel the presence of the wine but they are not dry. The 2010s finish with firm tannins, so in terms of longevity I think they will close down in a couple of years and then need another eight years. But I don’t think this will happen with the 2011. They are more like 2001 and 2007 that show their harmony early. They will be enjoyable over the next 15 years. The purity of the terroir in 2011 is exceptional, whereas in 2010 you have the power.” Apart from my marathon morning journey through Lucien le Moine’s 2011s, we sashayed over to the 2010s to see how a dozen were shaping up in bottle. These were bottled around August 2012 with a little sulphur in June. The bottles were double decanted at 90 minutes before tasting. Importers: Vintus LLC, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000; Atherton Imports, Menlo Park, CA; tel. (650) 328-6639