Louis Latour Corton Les Perrieres Grand Cru

The cellars of the Corton Grancey Cuverie — built 1832–1834 as France's first purpose-built winery — are dug 20 metres into the bedrock of Corton Perrières itself, making the connection between site and cellar unusually literal. Les Perrières sits on the south-east face of the Hill of Corton on red chalk, clay and marl soils, a heavier, iron-rich profile that drives deeper colour and firmer structure than the limestone-dominant summit parcels above. Vines average 35–40 years of age, concentrating yield into fruit of measurable density. In the cellar, 100% hand-harvested, fully destemmed Pinot Noir is fermented in 45 large open wooden vats over approximately 14 days with manual pigeage, transported entirely by gravity through the five-level Grancey infrastructure. Aging proceeds in 100% new French oak pièces (228 L), medium toast, 10–12 months — barrels coopered in-house from French oak air-dried 24–36 months. The defining transgression: every red wine Louis Latour bottles undergoes flash pasteurisation at approximately 72°C for 2–3 seconds, eliminating fining entirely while remaining a persistent point of critical debate on long-term aromatic evolution. The 2016 vintage delivered concentrated, structured Côte de Beaune reds with excellent cellaring potential; drinking window extends through the late 2020s.