Alvina Pernot Corton-Charlemagne 2020

Reviews

94 · 93

94 AM "From Pernand. Cool and restrained aromas of Granny Smith apples, lemon-lime and mineral reduction are complemented by the imposingly scaled big-bodied and muscular flavors that flash both focused power and stoniness on the moderately austere, chiseled and hugely long finish. This tightly wound and compact effort would benefit from having better depth but given the underlying reserve of material, more will almost certainly develop. This too is excellent . . . . Alvina Pernot is the granddaughter of Burgundy icon Paul Pernot (see immediately below). She, and her husband, Philippe Abadie, have started their own domaine that is technically mostly a négociant, effective with the 2018 vintage. I say technically because the must largely comes from her grandfather's vineyards and thus for all intents and purposes, it's really domaine sourced though this policy was relaxed somewhat for the 2020 vintage. Importantly though, the vinification and élevage methods are not simply a 'copy and paste' imitation of what her grandfather does. The fruit itself generally comes from earlier picked parcels and, when possible, the highest on the slope; for example, in the 2020 vintage began picking on the 17th of August whereas her grandfather did not begin until the 20th. Secondly, no new wood is employed during the 11-month élevage period (slightly longer than her grandfather's 10 months) where there is no racking until the wines are prepared for bottling. For now, natural corks are used and the bottles are waxed. As of 2020, the production is barely 10,000 bottles, which Pernot and her husband hope to increase if they can maintain the quality. While it's true that this new entry into the Puligny wine scene enjoys the inestimable benefits of having access to superb raw materials, Alvina and Philippe appear to already be making the most of it." 93 WA "Notes of citrus oil, freshly baked bread, crisp Anjou pear, white flowers and orange oil introduce the 2020 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, a medium to full-bodied, textural and incisive wine with a fleshy mid-palate allied with promising cut and grip. It's a fine success. Alvina Pernot was awaiting the imminent birth of her latest child when I visited, so I tasted this year with her husband Philippe at their new winery on Puligny's Rue de Bois, a facility that will give them all the space they need to master the élevage and, increasingly, the pressing of the fruit that produces their wines. Readers will recall that, after working for three years at her grandfather's Domaine Paul Pernot, Alvina and Philippe had set up a tiny domaine and maison in Puligny-Montrachet. All of their 2018 vintage was produced from Alvina's share of the Pernot family holdings, but only the Puligny-Montrachet La Rue Aux Vaches was harvested and pressed (vertically) in house, as the rest of the cuvées come from Domaine Paul Pernot in must; that held true in 2019 too, though the range was supplemented by several new appellations, the result of exchanges with other growers. In 2020, this label's most successful vintage to date, La Rue Aux Vaches is joined by another Puligny lieu-dit cuvée that's pressed in house, the Clos des Noyers Brets. Within the Pernot holdings, Alvina and her husband favor earlier-picked fruit and higher-altitude parcels, but it's these cuvées that are harvested and pressed in house that really give the measure of what we can expect in the years to come. Readers will note that all the wines are bottled under high-quality natural cork."