Xavier Durand calls it his best keeping wine. Made from grapes grown on the Corton hill, this Pinot Noir displays animal and robust qualities that reflect the marly clay and thick heavy soil of the lieu-dit.

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  Deborah Adeyanju

  A distinctive, youthful nose suggests talc, red fruit, cloves, minerals, and baking spice. Good balance between somewhat angular tannins and tart fruit that suggests both precision and power. Packed with red fruit and mineral. A big, full-bodied, robust wine.

  Food pairing: Red meats

Xavier Durand calls it his best keeping wine. Made from grapes grown on the Corton hill, this Pinot Noir displays animal and robust qualities that reflect the marly clay and thick heavy soil of the lieu-dit.

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  Cheryl Bringuez

  Recommendation: open this bottle about 30 minutes before consuming. The nose was subdued at first, but developed as the bottle was open longer. Dusty cherry, fresh-cut flowers and a bit of mushroom come out on the nose and the mid-palate has great tart cherry that lasts through to the finish.

  Food pairing: Truffle parmesan french fries

Grown like Boutières on the Corton hill, but on redder soils that elicit more substance and finer tannins from the Pinot Noir grapes, Les Chaillots is the more feminine and subtle of Domaine Durand’s two Aloxe-Cortons.

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  Colin Talcroft

  Earthy, wet clay scents combine with wood and suggestions of cherries and strawberries for an unusual, intriguing nose that develops herbal scents (particularly rose-scented geranium) with a little time in the glass. Seems lighter in body than it actually is because forward, youthful tannins mask the underlying fruit, but this wine has good acid and the stuffing to develop riper, richer, fruitier flavors with time. Still closed. Although drinkable now, likely to benefit from a decade or more in bottle.

  Food pairing: Coq au Vin, venison, duck or other game birds, rabbit

Grown like Boutières on the Corton hill, but on redder soils that elicit more substance and finer tannins from the Pinot Noir grapes, Les Chaillots is the more feminine and subtle of Domaine Durand’s two Aloxe-Cortons.

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  Cheryl Bringuez

  This is a bottle that is mature for its age: rich, brooding and outgoing. Nice spice, black cherry and raspberry on the nose. Well balanced mid-palate with plenty of structure on the mouthfeel.

  Food pairing: Bacon