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The January 2023 Auction: Part 4

Auction # 747 | View Auction Schedule and Details
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Auction Ends: 1/26/2023 6:00:00 PM PDT

Lot #119. Dugat-Py Corton-Charlemagne Vieilles Vignes 2019

Description: Consists of 6 Bottles, 0.75L
Packaging: OWC.
Score: 94+ WA.
"Offering up aromas of crisp green orchard fruit, buttery pastry, citrus zest, sesame, hazelnuts and nutmeg, the 2019 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with a satiny attack that segues into an ample, layered mid-palate. Fleshy and dramatic, with huge reserves of structuring extract, it's a broad-shouldered, gastronomic wine that will enjoy a long life. The 2020 is another brilliant vintage for a domaine that has been on one of the hottest hot streaks in contemporary Burgundy in recent years. Vibrant flavors, beautifully refined tannins, striking concentration and moderate alcohols are the order of the day, and these young wines seem to unite the charm of 2019 and the seriousness of 2018 (at least at this address, which produced some of the wines of the vintage) with supplemental reserves of energy that mark them out as very special indeed. Clearly, the domaine's innovative viticulture, emphasizing high, unhedged canopies and biodynamic preparations, with soils cultivated to encourage deep rooting, meant the vines were better equipped to resist the heat and drought in 2020 than many of their neighbors (something a walk through Gevrey a few days before harvest 2020 enabled me to see for myself). It bears repeating that the Dugat-Py style has appreciably evolved in the last few years: Low yields, old vines and small-berried massal selections mean that these are inevitably deep, concentrated and age-worthy wines; but extraction isn't pushed so far as it once was, and—as I wrote last year—Loïc has also quietly reduced the percentage of new oak used here. Where, until recently, 100% new was the order of the day from all premiers and grands crus—and sometimes for communal appellations too—that has been much reduced: premiers crus now see around 50% new wood, and the Vosne-Romanée a mere 30%. The choice of forests, seasoning and toast has been refined too, and clearly Dugat-Py has never been so well served by Tonnellerie François Frères as they are today. So, I once again encourage readers to put outdated stereotypes of excessive oak and over-extraction to one side and try what is being produced today, as these are bottles that number among the finest that contemporary Burgundy has to offer." William Kelley, Wine Advocate Interim, Jan 2022
Provenance: The Besançon Cellar
Lot Location: Orange County
Estimate: $4,250

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