Guffens claims his Corton-Charlemagne was harvested with 13.8 natural potential alcohol. Moreover, not one single rotten grape was found on the sorting tables! The wine's bouquet bursts from the glass with intensely sweet tropical fruit aromas. On the palate, this compelling offering reveals massively powerful and rich layers of metals, nuts, liquid minerals, hazelnut butter, and traces of almond candies. This wine is full-bodied, thick, and magnificently rich, yet it is also refined, delineated and precise. Drink this extraordinary Corton between 2004 and 2012+. The rating, with the range of scores in parentheses, indicates the wine was tasted from cask, not bottle. A year ago, Jean-Marie Guffens told me that 1996 was the greatest vintage of his lifetime. While he did not repeat that comment when I visited him in November, Guffens was bursting with pride as I tasted the wines. A Peter Vezan Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-42654293), importers include: North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel (510) 848-8910, and a Patrick Lesec Selection (Paris Fax # 011-33-1-44706293), various American importers, including Bacchus Importers (800) 525-9699.