2016 Nuits Saint-Georges Village

Back in March this year, I finally had the opportunity to taste through the latest vintages from Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux with young Charles Lachaux. I must admit that I was a little reserved at first because I was never a huge fan of Pascal Lachaux’s wines, as they often felt over-extracted and too oaky for my own personal taste. However, it is abundantly clear that Charles has taken a completely different approach and his wines are totally different to his father’s.

Charles Lachaux, Pascal’s eldest son, joined the domaine in October 2011 and instituted changes almost immediately. These include later summer pruning in order to maintain root growth, higher density planting (a recently replanted parcel in Aux Reignots has a vine density of 20,000 per hectare), harvesting between 7 and 10 days earlier than in the past, less punching down and pumping over. Charles’s inspiration is no less than Lalou Bize-Leroy, a person who rarely gives her blessing to other growers. As such, Charles is not biodynamic like Lalou, although the vineyard is now 90% converted to organic and I strongly suspect there will be more conversion to biodynamics down the road. Whole cluster fermentation has been increased so that the 2016 vintage includes between 60-70% stems. The new oak has inevitably been dialed down so that even the Grand Crus only see a modest 30% new wood. As you might guess, production was impacted by the spring frosts in 2016, the Domaine losing around 60% of production.

This is one of those tastings where I had to completely forget my experiences and prejudices towards the wines I tasted for many years. Without wishing any disrespect to Pascal, Charles has completely reinvented the domaine to create wines that express far more terroir, purity and elegance than those of his father. In particular, I would single out a quite brilliant 2016 Latricières-Chambertin and a strong set of Premier Crus, really across the board, those in Nuits Saint-Georges likely to represent the best value.

This estate in Vosne-Romanée lost 60% of its production in 2016, mostly due to the April frost, making just 20 hectoliters per hectare overall. There won’t be a Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Poisets or a Clos-Vougeot, and the half of their Romanée-Saint-Vivant vines situated in a humid cuvette produced no fruit owing to the frost. “And what wasn’t frosted was weakened by the frost and was more sensitive to mildew and oidium,” said Charles Lachaux. The family’s Vosne-Romanée Aux Reignots was their only vineyard with a normal crop, and they picked these vines first, on September 21, then waited until the 25th to attack their rest. Lachaux finds the ‘16s to be “purer and more traditional, with more terroir specificity and energy than the much denser 2015s.” Still, 3.6 was the lowest pH in 2016.

The young Lachaux has made many important changes in viticulture and vinification since taking over the estate from his father Pascal. One of the most important involves canopy management: Lachaux now prunes tall (the fruiting zone is at a very high 1.7 meters) and a full month after the flowering, which makes for more leaves and enhanced photosynthesis, which in turn results in riper seeds in the grapes and enables the estate to harvest up to a week earlier than their neighbors. Grape sugars in 2016 were in the healthy 13% range and Lachaux chaptalized lightly only to extend the otherwise very quick fermentations. He vinified with almost the same high percentage of whole clusters as he had in 2015.