2004 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru

I was stunned by the quality of Pascal Lachaux's 2005s. As Lachaux said, "I like 2002 and 2004 a lot, but 2005 is my best year so far." (Lachaux began working here in 1985 and vinified on his own for the first time in 1990; his father-in-law Robert Arnoux died in 1995.) Lachaux told me he was the first to start picking in Vosne-Romanee, along with Jean-Nicolas Meo and DRC; he brought in his fruit with sugars between 13% and 13.3%. Lachaux vinified in his new cuverie in 2005, where he doesn't have to pump the berries after the destemming. He believes this gives the wines less bitterness and tannic hardness while preserving the fruit. Perhaps more important, Lachaux has invested in heat and humidification equipment that, among other things, enables him to keep the temperature of his cellar from descending below 55o in the winter. Excessive cold also risks hardening the tannins, Lachaux maintains. There is little doubt that the new facility helped turn 2005 into something special for this domain.

Pascal Lachaux claimed to have done a total of 13 passes through his vineyards during the 2004 growing season to stave off any serious maladies of the vine. According to Lachaux, the Arnoux holdings experienced little hail on August 23; rather, the problem in 2004 was more a lack of ripeness. At the time of my visit, Lachaux planned to rack his 2004s at the end of November, allow them to settle in cuve for a month or two, and then bottle quickly "to avoid hardening the tannins. "Lachaux told me he vinified in 2004 "as usual," which is to say with minimal pigeage. He pressed very lightly to avoid crushing the seeds. The typical 2004 was picked with alcohol in the 12. 7% range and chaptalized a half degree to extend the fermentations. Lachaux maintains that 2004 has more stuffing, elegance and fruit than either 2001 or 2000. "The wines still showed some vegetal notes in the spring, but these have disappeared in recent months. Today they're very pinot. "