2009 Corton Charlemagne grand cru Bonneau du Martray: review
The 2009 Corton Charlemagne grand cru Bonneau du Martray: or rather the quintessence of elegance, or rather how to transform a juice of limestone and marl into a great Chardonnay.
We don’t want to beat around the bush for too long: this Chardonnay Corton Charlemagne by Bonneau du Martray is an extraordinary wine, an example of crystalline elegance, with an impressive structure, aromatic depth, good fatness, and incredible persistence. Everything is declined with absolute finesse, creating an infinite taste that makes you want to drink it in whole tubs.
Despite the pungent-mineral trait, the palate is enveloped by perfectly shaped buttery and fruity flavors, already ripe but always sharp. The wood-vanilla is cheeky, but it has found an excellent composure by now. It moves with elegance, although the structure of the wine is impressive.
Two words about the birthplace of this nectar: Corton
Charlemagne is a grand cru in the heart of the Côte de Beaune. The winery is one of the historic ones in Burgundy: Bonneau du Martray founded a couple of centuries ago. Today it is under organic conditions, and the wines are pure, hard, rocky, made with intransigence, repudiating technical means, adjustments, filtrations, clarifications, or other expedients. With such a terroir, it would be sheer folly to cripple the wine and its twenty-year aging potential.
The aging in wood is radical. Even today, in 2022, there is a substantial contribution from the barrique, but it has been incorporated and merged into the structure of the wine, and there are no uncertainties. It is no longer exotic tinsel: it has done its duty.
The bouquet
Warm fruit with ripe yellow fruit in alcohol, honey, acacia, butter and vanilla, sweet spices, saffron, fresher notes of aromatic herbs, candied orange, and in the background splendid suggestions of rocks and salt.
The flavor
It is harmonious, broad, and fat but with a perfect sapid length and composure in the mouth. On the palate, it opens in a thousand mineral flavors. The fruit is sharp but has already evolved. The balance is good, but it is a wine that has just begun to mature, the wood has shaped all this pulp, sculpting it with grace, but it took 10 years to dispose of the woodiness. Right now, it’s perfect.
Food Pairings
It is a structured and sharp wine capable of keeping at bay fish dishes, salmon or fried fish, and main courses of meat and Indian dishes. Fabulous with Thai cuisine. Recommended dishes: Parmigiana ravioli, spaghetti with clams, chicken tikka masala, Chicken Cacciatore, Vitello Tonnato, truffle risotto, pasta alla carbonara, Pad Thai.