2011 Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru, Domaine Leroy, Burgundy

Chardonnay is often seen as the king of white wine grapes and one of the most widely planted in the world It is suited to a wide variety of soils, though it excels in soils with a high limestone content as found in Champagne, Chablis, and the Côte D`Or. Burgundy is Chardonnay's spiritual home and the best White Burgundies are dry, rich, honeyed wines with marvellous poise, elegance and balance. They are unquestionably the finest dry white wines in the world. Chardonnay plays a crucial role in the Champagne blend, providing structure and finesse, and is the sole grape in Blanc de Blancs.

Two specific vineyards, En Charlemagne and Le Charlemagne, make up half of this appellation, while white grapes grown in seven others may also be sold as Corton-Charlemagne. As a result there can be a wide divergence in style between a south-facing location such as Pougets, which needs picking at the start of the harvest, and the western slopes in Pernand-Vergelesses which might be picked weeks later.

Domain Leroy is arguably producing the greatest red Burgundy wines on the Cote d`Or at present. Lalou Bize-Leroy started out as a négociant, working for her family's Maison Leroy, which was founded by her father, Henri. There are three entities to the Leroy empire: the Maison Leroy based in Auxey-Duresses; the Domaine d’Auvenay named for Lalou Bize-Leroy’s own home near St-Romain, and the substantial Domaine Leroy in Vosne-Romanée.