2022 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru

Instead of tasting through Sébastien Cathiard’s 2022s in the barrel cellar, we convened in an arched, subterranean annex that will eventually be the Domaine’s furnished tasting room. It’s amazing to think how small it was when I began visiting his father a couple of decades ago – much has changed. Cathiard told me he picked from September 2 and finished eight days later in the Hautes-Côtes. That’s around the same time as others, and in that sense, I think he learned from 2020 when he did pick too late and suffered over-ripeness in his wines. Hence, in 2022, the maximum alcohol is 13.6%. The pH levels are around 3.50 to 3.60 thanks to more tartaric acid. He conducted a cuvaison of 22 to 27 days with five pigeages. The result is a different style to previous vintages. I feel the wines convey more restraint and covet their elegance from some of the most auspicious climats. They are polished like always, yet I think the terroir is articulated with greater clarity, with a couple of knockouts in the form of the Vosne Les Suchots, Malconsorts and, unsurprisingly, his Romanée-Saint-Vivant. These wines are not cheap even by Burgundy standards, though supply is very limited, and there appears to be sufficient demand to sustain them. But it is also worth seeing out a range of Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes.