Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Offering up aromas of sweet red berries, cherries, orange zest, smoked tea and petals, the 2021 Corton Grand Cru Les Renardes is medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny, with impressive depth and purity of fruit, supple tannins and a saline finish. Like the Rognet, it transcends the vintage to a remarkable degree and will delight Burgundy purists.

Saint-Romain's reference point, this 19-hectare domaine has been estate bottling since the late 1940s and farming organically since the 1970s. Today, brothers Franck and Frédérick Buisson preside over the vineyards and cellar, where white grapes are sorted, crushed and pressed for two and a half hours and musts are barreled down with minimal settling. Reds see gentle extraction, generally with some 50% whole bunches, though that proportion was somewhat reduced in 2021 given the vintage conditions. The result is elegantly textural, chiseled wines that can age very well but are also hard to resist young. After a series of sunny vintages, where Saint-Romain's altitude helped to retain freshness, don't count out the 2021s, a more challenging year that has nevertheless produced some beautifully electric, saline whites and perfumed, supple reds.