2009 Domaine Faiveley Corton Grand Cru "Clos des Corton Faiveley"

Good medium red with faint amber at the rim. Quite ripe on the nose if considerably less expressive than the 2010, offering scents of raspberry, redcurrant, rose petal, cedar and tobacco. Then wonderfully fleshy and opulent in the mouth, with a texture like liquid velvet. Delivers a very sexy restrained sweetness to its sappy flavors of cherry, red berries, spices and red licorice. Finishes with totally ripe, substantial, spreading tannins and outstanding persistence. This beautifully balanced, surprisingly elegant wine does not lose any of its thickness on the back end. Erwan Faiveley told me that his family loves to open this wine at special dinners, eschewing decanting and then watching it explode with some oxygenation. It can certainly be paired today with strongly flavored meat dishes. The '09 Clos des Cortons has been a personal favorite of mine since the first time I tasted it from barrel. (13.55% alcohol; 3.46 pH; 3.35 g/l acidity; Faiveley generally made the maximum allowable yields in 2009 but a moderate 37 hectoliters per hectare in the Clos des Cortons, which Erwan Faiveley described as "our star of the vintage") (ST)