the detail of what we experience with our senses. And as for the colorless, arid straitjacket of numbers—well, ridiculous. But I offer mine. As I must.


TASTING Corney & Barrow, London; February 5, 2025


2022 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (52hl/ha [5hl/ha in 2021]; 1,757 dozen [165 in 2021]; 14% ABV)


Pale lemon yellow. Dense, fresh, persistent, lemon-edged white peach and a subtle minerality to smell; glass-filling, ample, seductive—a wonderful nose that calls out to be drunk immediately. Rich and vital, a perfect combination of very clear ripeness and defining acidity—if just as clearly not a “cooler” vintage character (not that of the 2020, for example). This is deep, rich, sweetly ripe, abundant, and seductive, instantly appealing, long, and juicy, but also complex, detailed, tenacious across the palate, intense, penetrating, aromatic, and with great minerality and wonderful aromatic persistence. A grand, complete, and succulent expression of the terroir, an almost Bâtard-character richness in 2022, such that Bâtard might be, at this stage anyway, one’s first port of call if tasted blind! Wonderful already, but with the acidity to keep for the medium to long term. Wonderful, too, that there is so much. Now to 2040+. | 97


2022 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Cuvée Duvault-Blochet (228 dozen; 14% ABV)


Mid-red. Mineral-backed, freshly ripe red cherry to smell; medium-full and concentrated, with a fresh to vital acidity and a fine, gently firm tannin—a lovely, top premier cru balance. Freshly ripe to taste; long, racy, complex, gently energetic, and remarkably persistent for its premier cru status, possibly because it is a blend of declassified grands crus. This cuvée is made occasionally, from the Domaine’s young vines in abundant, high- quality vintages and named for the Domaine’s 19th-century founder. A lovely combination of concentration, intensity of flavor, and freshness. 2028–38+. | 93


2022 Corton Grand Cru (40hl/ha [5hl/ha in 2021]; 946 dozen [105 in 2021]; average 2010–17: 413; highest since 2009: 707 in 2009; 13% ABV)


Deep, youthful red. A dense, soft, red- and black-fruit nose, persistent and perfumed. Rich, concentrated, gently vigorous in acidity, with a very fine, gently firm tannin, a medium- to long-term balance. This is ripe, ample, elegant, and deeply yet freshly sweet, with a ripe red- rather than black-cherry character, succulent, complex, and with very fine length, which is an aromatic combination of deep fruit and mineral impressions. The breadth and succulence notwithstanding, there remains the clear, underlying imprint of Corton firmness. A fine grand cru. 2030–42+. | 94


2022 Echézeaux Grand Cru (43hl/ha [14hl/ha in 2021]; 1966 dozen [636 in 2021]; average 2010–17: 1,195; highest since 2009: 1,543 in 2009; 13% ABV)


Mid-purple-red. Dense, very ripely red cherry in character on the nose; mineral-backed, too; an impressively rich impression for this wine, full, gently tannic, and with a distinctly fresh, defining acidity. Deep in flavor and with an unusual depth for Echézeaux, both sweetly ripe and very fresh, long and tenacious, subtly mouth-coating and, as with the Duvault-Blochet and the Corton, very long in fruit and aroma to finish. A bit more “softly sweet” than the Corton at a very similar quality level. A splendid iteration. Will the tannins harden a bit? Maybe. 2032–42+. | 94


2022 Grands-Echézeaux Grand Cru (43hl/ha [21.5hl/ha in 2021]; 1,566 dozen [742 in 2021]; average 2010–17: 991; highest since 2009: 1,290 in 2017; 13.5% ABV)


A dense red- and black-fruit nose, with a pronounced fruit core and lovely density, concentrated and persistent, filling the glass as it sits, remarkable already just to smell. An immediately impressive constitution: rich, tautly fresh in acidity, very finely tannic, beautifully balanced; clearly richer and more “packed” than the Echézeaux, a long, close-knit palate, deep in flavor, with an unusual sense of “grain” for the cru, searching, beautifully black-fruit-sweet in character and very long and aromatic to finish. A remarkable, particularly special, fairly long-term Grands-Echézeaux. 2034–45+. | 95


2022 Richebourg Grand Cru (43hl/ha [11.5hl/ha in 2021]; 1,211 dozen [355 in 2021]; average 2010–17: 848; highest since 2009: 1,311 in 2009; 13.5% ABV)


Dark red. Dense, relatively closed, black-fruit ripe, and strongly “mineral” to smell, as discernibly “clay”-marked as the Romanée-St-Vivant is “limestone”-emphatic. Rich, generous, subtly muscular, all very freshly defined, and framed by a firm, fine tannin, absolutely classic Richebourg proportions and character. Here, too, is that remarkable (and so very 2022, it seems) sweetness of flavor, with more depth and reach than the RSV and therefore appropriately placed afterward in the tasting order today. This is a wine of considerable density, super-long across the palate, full of gentle sinew, its great fruit core mineral-saturated and with superb aromatic persistence. A magnificently rewarding Richebourg—a wonderful expression of the vineyard. This will need time to yield, to blossom, to bouquet, to gain absolute polish. It will of course be greatly gratifying earlier, but I’d wait at least a decade from now. 2035–50+. | 97


2022 La Tâche Grand Cru (38hl/ha [8.5hl/ha in 2021]; 2,227 dozen [579 in 2021]; average 2010–17: 1,386; highest since 2009: 2,082 in 2017; 13.5% ABV)


Deepish red. That very specific, and wonderful, mineral-backed, super-ripe red cherry to smell, an impression of succulence even on the nose, voluminous and heady in the glass. And a splendidly capacious early constitution: abundance, substance, enriching tannins, and delicious freshness besides—yet effortless, for all this profusion. A deep core fruit, red to freshly sweet black in spectrum, deeper, sweeter, broader even than the Richebourg, with a magnificent length of flavor, a completely absorbing complexity, and of course a finale, a residual echo, to match. A La Tâche of complex orchestration, of glorious depth and intensity, but beautifully balanced, too, by the delicacy and transparency of the best Pinot Noir. To extract so much with no sense of excess whatsoever is a great tribute to the winemaking. This will be memorable, of course, whenever broached—as indeed it is today. But time will enhance. 2032–50+. | 98


2022 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru (37hl/ha [20hl/ha in 2021]; 694 dozen [403 in 2021]; average 2010–17: 432; highest since 2009: 657 in 2014; 13% ABV)


Dark red. Such a richly subtle combination of both fruit and terroir to smell, very ripe red cherry at its heart, but mineral-drenched, too, and where you notice the whole-bunch herbal character more clearly than in the other wines this year. A quintessentially, harmoniously, perfectly balanced wine, particularly copious in fruit presence for Romanée-Conti, freshly poised in acidity, the tannins a barely perceptible, enriching textural grain. Deep and sweet, with a breadth that surpasses even the La Tâche. This is immediately full of gently racy inner energy enveloping your palate, a combination of intensely yet delicately sweet fruit, of spice, of perfume, of resonance and textural presence. So full of “what-may-be” in the mouth, of an intensely sensual pleasure, that it is impossible not to be emotionally stirred. And as with all wines of such quality, you exhaust the liquid before you can fully absorb all the extraordinary magic it has to offer. Effortlessly, transparently beautiful. A magnitude of quality almost impossible to describe, and a wine to stand alongside the 2019 and 2020. Leave, ideally, for 15 to 20 years. If you can. Especially since there is so much else to enjoy beforehand. 2035–55+. | 99–100


Opposite: Plowing by horse in Richebourg, which the Domaine expressed “wonderfully” in 2022.


THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 87 | 2025 | 57


Every year, this tasting serves as a conspicuous demonstration of the marked quality gradation that exists within the grand cru appellation itself.


It is all the more striking with 2022, where each wine is such an outstanding expression of the possibilities of its particular origin. 


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