The De Montille family has long been a venerable one in Burgundy, though Domaine de Montille’s reputation was properly established in 1947: prominent Dijon lawyer Hubert de Montille inherited 2.5 hectares in Volnay, later adding further parcels in Volnay, Pommard and Puligny. Hubert’s style was famously austere: low alcohol, high tannin and sublime in maturity. His son, Etienne, joined him from ’83 to ’89 before becoming the senior winemaker, taking sole charge from ’95. Etienne also managed Château de Puligny-Montrachet from ’01; he bought it, with investors, in ’12.

"Corton" comes from "Cort is Ottoni", the royal Domaine of Otton the Great, Charlemagne's grandson who became Otton the First, King of Germany and France after his coronation in 936 in Aix-la-Chapelle. It is said that Charlemagne gave this vast vineyard to the abbey of Saint Antoche de Saulieu in 775. The monks decided to call the vineyard "Charlemagne" to thank their benefactor.

Etienne de Montille comments that the 2019 "presented its fair share of challenges but nothing we haven't seen before. However, the challenges weren't without consequence as each of them took a bite out of the potential yields. This was the case even though individually none of them were serious, but when we added them all together, it cost us around 25%. In the end, though, the fruit was spotless and ripe with good acidities. The skins were thick, and we used varying proportions of whole clusters while vinifying very softly to avoid extracting too much tannin. For the whites, I'm honestly not sure what other vintages they might reasonably resemble but I will say that they are a very pleasant surprise. I would add that we did almost no lees stirring as it seemed relatively clear from the beginning that they would be quite rich."