Domaine Leroy   Corton Renardes

2007 Corton Renardes

By Domaine Leroy

2007 Corton Renardes from Domaine Leroy, Burgundy, France

In the lush tapestry of Burgundy’s world-renowned vinicultural heritage, the 2007 vintage of Corton Renardes from Domaine Leroy exhibits a dazzlingly complex and rare character. The year 2007 was marked by nuanced climatic conditions, which proved to be a determining factor in sculpting this particular vintage's unique expression.

 

An Embodiment of Terroir and Time

The delicately balanced dance between the early warmth of spring and an unexpectedly cool August resulted in a harvest that accentuated maturity while retaining an admirable acidity. This tension is the lifeblood of the 2007 Corton Renardes – it resonates with precision, depth, and the potential for longevity that astute investors and collectors covet.

A delicate nose of earthy undertones and ripe cherries emerges from the glass, yielding to subtle layers of spice and a whisper of forest floor. Upon imbibing, one is struck by the deft interplay of concentrated fruit and polished tannins, a hallmark of Domaine Leroy's meticulous vinification process. A vitality courses through this wine; it is laced with an elegantly robust body resulting from its time-tempered evolution.

 

Investment in Elegance

For investors seeking finesse with their financial portfolios, few vintages offer the poetry and performance of the 2007 Burgundy selection. Particularly, Corton Renardes from Domaine Leroy offers a compelling narrative — an investment not merely in wine but in artistry and history. Its ascent in maturity promises continued enrichment both for the palate and for the cellar’s value.

The 2007 vintage delivers a distinctive ensemble of specificity: a year notably cooler than its predecessors, but one that granted vintners deft enough to listen to their vines, wines radiating with vivacity. The profound adaptability of Burgundian terroir is on full display here; the 2007 Corton Renardes is not just a beverage — it exemplifies nature’s synchrony tuned to virtuoso winemaking. It stands as a luminous example among its peers for those who seek the exclusivity that only such a phenomenally nuanced year can present.

As time marches on, so does this wine's journey towards vinous nirvana. A sterling addition to any sophisticated portfolio, the 2007 Corton Renardes undeniably embodies both the elegance of Domaine Leroy’s enological craftsmanship and a favourable chapter in Burgundy's annals — an investment sure to satisfy the connoisseur's penchant for prestige.

Current market price

$94,650.00

12x75cl

Highest score

94

POP score

4050

Scores and tasting notes

94

Saline, marrow-rich beef stock, kelp, peat, chalk dust, and tart dark berries are all fascinatingly suggested in the nose of the Leroy 2007 Corton Renardes and follow through on a palate of silken refinement and truly mysterious maritime depth. The least evident aspect of the sappy concentrate that stains the taste buds on this occasion is sheer (mere?) sweetness of fruit, and this is a wine to explore over the next two decades with the aid of scuba gear and a geologist’s pick. The results Lalou Bize-Leroy achieved in 2006 – as I wrote in my previous red Burgundy report – were especially notable considering the misgivings she expressed early on about that vintage. She appeared more enthusiastic early on about 2007, but in this instance it’s far from merely notable – frankly, it’s utterly improbable – the richness and complexity that the Leroy team has achieved, especially considering that harvesting began here already on August 27! This collection is quite distinctive even from the very few others of its vintage that come even remotely close in quality. These 2007s display a sense of effortless effusiveness, primary juiciness, and – I don’t know how to put this less nebulously – elegance and in the best instances transparency, contrasting with the impressions of tumescent ripeness, coagulation, and new wood veneer that in some vintages accompany the profound richness of Leroy reds. As usual, the wines were all bottled in December, which at least in this vintage seems less difficult to reconcile with their exceptional quality than it does in vintages like 2005 or 2008, when so many of the other top practitioners of red Burgundy emphasize the need for longer elevage. Extremely low yields are of course also a common denominator among Bize-Leroy’s collections, although in the challenging 2007 vintage, she had somewhat more company than usual among fellow-vignerons in the roughly 20 hectoliter-per-hectare range. (And that was bounteous compared with the 13 hectoliters per hectare Bize-Leroy reports having managed in 2008, a vintage from which she did not want to show her bottled wines until June of this year, so that I shall publish notes on them in my follow-up to the present report.) Importer: Martine’s Wines. Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400

David Schildknecht - The Wine Advocate, 28 June 2010

Vintage performance