The 2020 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has turned out beautifully, offering up aromas of crisp pear and green apple mingled with notions of hazelnuts, lime zest, white flowers, nutmeg and freshly baked bread. Full-bodied, satiny and concentrated, it's ample but incisive, with a vibrant spine of acidity and chalky structuring extract. Combining the depth and intensity of flavor of 2019 with supplemental cut and tension, it's a step up in quality from that excellent debut vintage.

The 2019 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is the debut release of this new cuvée from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, produced from almost three hectares of vineyards, in the communes of Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses, that have been leased from Bonneau du Martray since November 2018. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of citrus zest, pear and preserved peaches mingled with wheat toast, sesame oil, vanilla pod, beeswax and smoke, it's full-bodied, rich and textural, with a ripe, enveloping core of fruit that's framed by lively acids and chalky structuring extract. Concluding with a long, saline finish, it reflects the domaine's vision for Chardonnay—picked at full maturity, in a powerful, gastronomic style—while remaining more tightly coiled and mineral in style than its Montrachet stablemate.