The Bernard Dugat-Py Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2019 is an exceptional French white wine produced in the iconic Burgundy region. This esteemed producer, Bernard Dugat-Py, is revered for his traditional winemaking approach, using minimal intervention to allow the quality of the fruit to shine through. This Grand Cru wine is carefully crafted from hand-picked Chardonnay grapes grown on the south-west facing limestone slopes of the Corton-Charlemagne vineyard. Its maturation in French oak barrels contributes to the wine's elegance and complexity.

The Bernard Dugat-Py Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru 2019 boasts an intricate bouquet of apples and peaches, underlined by delicate notes of butter and toast. On the palate, it offers a harmonious balance of rich fruit flavours and refreshing mineral undertones, leading to a long and refined finish. An ideal companion for fine dining, it complements dishes with nuanced flavours, such as lobster or roasted poultry.

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (93-97)

A low key lemon and lime colour. Clean fresh and classic on the nose. A very typical fresh stony palate, lightly washed in citrus, with enough flesh to provide the body necessary for ageing, and a fine, long, persistently mineral finish. Drink from 2027-2035. Tasted: November 2022

Wine Advocate (92)

The 2015 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru has a lovely bouquet: hints of grilled almond and pine nuts fusing with the citrus fruit, tight at first but opening nicely with aeration. The palate is very well balanced, tightly-bound at the moment, not a heavy or powerful Corton-Charlemagne, but sporting a very attractive, fresh and stony, slightly reserved finish. Nothing extraordinary or overly-ambitious, nevertheless, this is a well-made Corton-Charlemagne from the domaine.

Decanter (96)

The Faiveley holdings add up to 0.87ha on variety of soil types and altitudes, but they are all comparatively cool. This was picked late as a result on September 4th and marries richness, weight and honeyed complexity with vibrant, mineral-edged acidity and scented oak. A textbook Corton-Charlemagne from a year that didn't lend itself to classic wines.

Vinous (91+)

Very ripe, lightly resiny aromas of apple, hay, nuts, ginger, minerals and exotic flowers. Youthfully disjointed on the palate, combining penetrating liquid minerality and strong, almost citrussy acidity; I wanted a bit more balancing fruit. Very chewy, salty, concentrated wine with a finishing suggestion of crab apple that suggests late harvesting. With its pronounced acid element, this is tough going today.

Wine Advocate (95)

The most youthfully reserved wine in the cellar was the 2018 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, a promising bottling that opens up to reveal scents of citrus zest, dried white flowers, green apple and pastry cream. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with racy acids and prodigious levels of searingly chalky dry extract that lend this wine incredible structure.

Wine Advocate (95)

The most youthfully reserved wine in the cellar was the 2018 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, a promising bottling that opens up to reveal scents of citrus zest, dried white flowers, green apple and pastry cream. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with racy acids and prodigious levels of searingly chalky dry extract that lend this wine incredible structure.

Wine Advocate (95)

Produced from purchased grapes, the 2019 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is serious and structured, enforcing a change of pace after the series of Puligny-Montrachet grands crus. Mingling notes of pear and citrus oil with hints of toasted bread, white flowers and praline, it's medium to full-bodied, satiny and chalky, with palpable structuring dry extract and tangy balancing acids.

Wine Advocate (92-94)

The 2016 Corton Charlemagne came from a one-year-old barrel (there will also be a new and two-year-old barrel). It has a straightforward, brioche-tinged bouquet that opens nicely in the glass, with hints of peaches and cream, later gooseberry tart. The palate is well balanced, honeyed in texture with notes of dried apricot, frangipane and a hint of honey. It does not quite deliver the length, but this is undoubtedly a well crafted Corton-Charlemagne from Jean-Michel that will give immense pleasure over the next 10 to 15 years.

Vinous (93-95)

The 2019 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru comes from Charlemagne and the Pernand side of the hill, comprises two barrels from the domaine and three barrels from two other sources. It comes across surprisingly closed on the nose. Maybe just going through a dumb phase of élevage? The palate is medium-bodied and much more expressive, gorgeous yellow plum and pithy/peachy notes with a caressing finish. Once the aromatics awaken, this should be a very seductive "CC".

Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (92-94)

Very pale colour and where is the bouquet? Here it comes now, slowly. More generous in the mouth with a slight creamy edge, backed by a few stones. It is certainly a good wine, but without the extra drive of the very best in this cellar. Tasted: October 2021

Decanter (95)

The east-facing climat of Les Languettes supplies all the fruit for this domaine white from Joseph Drouhin, so this is not an over powerful Corton-Charlemagne. Instead, it's built around a core of freshness and minerality with coiled, underlying concentration and stylish, scented 30% new wood. Racy and refined with some (skin) tannic grip.

Vinous (92-94)

The 2019 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru was a small yield this year, with just three barrels produced instead of the usual six. It has an understated bouquet of light dandelion and patisserie aromas. The well-balanced palate displays fine delineation and a tang of marmalade toward the finish. This is a nicely composed Corton-Charlemagne, though I wager it will be best consumed within its first decade.

Tim Atkin MW (96)

South Africa's Sweet Wine of the Year 2017.

Decanter (98)

An historical wine, Vin de Constance has been re-established in the last few years as one of the world’s finest sweet wines. Dried Muscat grapes are aged for three years before bottling, in French and Hungarian casks with a touch of acacia wood. Citrus, orange zest, rosewater and spice notes leap out of the glass. The palate has a laser-like focus with massive sweetness perfectly balanced by acidity and a mineral finish. As impressive as Château d’Yquem (and considerably better value).

Tim Atkin MW (98)

Increasingly celebrated as one of the great sweet wines of the world, not just the Cape, Vin de Constance is a delight to taste and review. Slightly drier than the 205 release at 165 grams of sugar, it has more in common with the Loire or Tokaji than it does with Sauternes in terms of freshness and structure.

Matthew Jukes (19.5++)

I am informed by the top man at Klein Constantia that the price will be the same as last year’s superb 2017 and all of the likely candidates in the UK are likely to hold stock. It will require a little effort on Google and you will see that a large number of wine merchants will list 2018 Vin de Constance and while the prices swing around like no other wine I know, at £60 or so, for a half litre, it certainly makes sense to me and when you consider the sheer quality of this vintage, it is a bargain for this celestial experience. Stock is likely to arrive in September 2021, but do feel free to register your interest with your preferred wine merchant now. Vintage reports suggest that the build-up to the 2018 harvest brought the highest summer rainfall of the last six years and, combined with some of the coldest night-time temperatures on record, the vines were granted a very long and very slow growing season. These conditions have imbued extreme delicacy of perfume and flavour and also staggering concentration and length in this wine. It also means that the 2018 vintage has otherworldly characteristics and I cannot remember a young vintage tasting so refined and demure. Light bunches and tiny Muscat de Frontignan berries underline just how unusual this vintage was and with a harvest that was a fortnight later than average and crops down by about 15% all of these facts make sense when you taste this ethereal wine. Aged for three years in a combination of 50% new French oak barrels, a small number of acacia barrels, as well as large format foudres, this is both a sensual and also sensitive wine. For a start, the colour is incredibly pale – think a young Sancerre! But the viscosity is amazing when you pour a glass because the liquid moves ever so slightly slower and more deliberately into the glass. The lights come on and the brain fires up immediately and it takes you by surprise just how quickly your olfactory system senses that you are in the presence of greatness. I was in a state of heightened anticipation, long before I raised the glass to my lips and the reward is exquisite. The perfume and palate combine in an astral haze of delight with orange blossom, fig, lemon verbena, wild honey and acacia notes caressing your senses. The texture is super-smooth, incredibly long and unnervingly gentle. It certainly possesses the longest finish I can remember on a Vin de Constance and I have, very fortunately, a tasted huge number of vintages of this wine. If you have never tasted this wine before, please start with this vintage – it will blow your mind. If you have and you are a fan, this is a critical purchase for your collection. I cannot wait to add this wine to my cellar later in the year.

Decanter (98)

Butterscotch, lemon patisserie and peach aromas. Pristine quality to the texture, lively and thrilling, this is a serious, opulent and powerful wine, more on the spiced, nuanced side with aspects of dried herbs, wood scents and bitter lemon and orange with a touch of honeyed lychee. It feels supremely complex and characterful. Sophisticated, layered and balanced with some minerality, a slight graphite edge all of which adds to the whole. It's still extremely youthful but there is real sculpting here, a sense of precision, style and freshness. Well crafted with an extremely long life ahead. A wonder, and one of the best from the estate!

Vinous (92)

The 2017 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru has a light and slightly earthy nose, a touch of orange pith emerging with time. The palate displays good weight and concentration, offering candied orange peel and lemon zest and turning a little peachy toward the finish, all underpinned by a fine bead of acidity and decent length. This should drink well for 12–15 years. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting in Savigny-lès-Beaune.

Tim Atkin MW (96)

This comes from southern-facing vines and possesses an exotic collection of aromas. Among them are bananas, rainwater, sweet spice and dried flowers. Gorgeously scented with an equally perfumed palate that haunts the long finish, this is very much a beckoning, come-hither kind of wine. Again, the various appellations of Corton just crush it in this vintage! 2022-34

Wine Advocate (91-93+)

The 2019 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru is also quite promising, exhibiting aromas of pear, buttered citrus fruit, honeycomb, toasted almonds and white flowers. Full-bodied, satiny and rich, with a fleshy core of fruit and good underlying freshness, I hope it can repeat this fine performance from bottle.

Vinous (93-95)

The 2020 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, the only cuvée that was not bottled when I tasted it, has a well-defined bouquet with crushed rock filtering through the citrus fruit, kernals of orange rind and litchi. The palate is well balanced with an aniseed tinged entry, good depth and vibrancy with a dash of spice, stem ginger, on the finish. Excellent.

Vinous (88-90)

The 2019 Corton-Charlemagne "Quintessence" Grand Cru comes from the Aloxe-Corton side, from a climat, and is made with purchased grapes from vines around 55–60 years old. The rather muted nose has trouble following on from the clearly more expressive Puligny Les Combettes. The palate is balanced with a fine bead of acidity, but the truth is that I find this missing the complexity and mineralité of a Grand Cru, surpassed by some of Girardin’s excellent Premier Crus this vintage.

Vinous (92-94)

The 2020 Corton-Charlemagne "Quintessence" Grand Cru comes from a single parcel in Aloxe-Corton. This has more complexity and energy on the nose compared to the regular cuvée with fresh pineapple, grapefruit, crushed stone and a touch of mirabelle. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, harmonious and quite refined, not powerful on the finish but linear and poised. Eight barrels produced.