2018 Richebourg Grand Cru

Charles van Canneyt, winemaker and my temporary neighbour during my stay since his abode lays just a few steps away from my rented apartment, guided me through the Domaine’s 2019s. “We started the picking on 16 September and finished four days later,” he explained. “The malos were late and some have only finished in the last two weeks.” This is due to their cellar being colder than others, thereby retarding the malo. “The reds have not been racked. It is the smallest production since I have been at the domaine - around 30hl/ha depending on the appellation. We lost between 30% and 50% due to flowering, millerandage and lack of juice. We only did remontage - no pigeage as I saw that the colour and tannins were being extracted easily. The alcohol levels are between 13.5° and 14.5°, the highest in Les Murgers.” Sometimes the Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg battle it out for supremacy, though I felt that the latter was clearly the better of the two, a view that van Canneyt concurred with. But there is a challenger in the form of a brilliant Vosne-Romanée Les Malconsorts and Les Beaumonts, essentially Grands Crus in all but name. Although the Clos Vougeot came across a little exotic compared to those, it was generally a very impressive set of 2019s that may have the edge over the 2018s, several of which were re-tasted and included in this report.

It was the first winter day when I dropped in at Hudelot-Noëllat to meet with winemaker Charles Van Canneyt. Their cellars are naturally cooler than others so I had put on an extra layer of clothing. "We started the picking on the 5 September and it took five days, finishing on the 9 September," he told me. "It was a difficult vintage in terms of finding the date of picking as you had to choose between risking phenolic maturity or achieving that but risking high sugar levels [and alcohol]. I wanted to keep the acidity so I started early, when the alcohol was between 13.2% to 14.2%. Yes, it’s high, but not as much as others. We had no problem in terms of winemaking: all the sugar finished well and the malolactic was later in July. The Premier Crus see around 25% new oak and the Grand Crus around 50%. I will probably bottle Village Crus in February and the Premier Crus in March or April."