2023 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru

“It was a kind of classic season, not too dry, not too wet,” Louis Meunier tells me at the domaine, which lies on the RN74. “The ripeness came from the warmth in August and September. It was a generous vintage, even though we did our best to control the yield by green harvesting. We started picking the whites on September 5 with the full-time workers and two days later for the reds. Picking took around ten days. It was crazy how the sugar increased so the alcohol levels are all about 13.5%, and some 14%. In the end we have around 40-42 hl/ha. That is big considering we have older vines…usually it is around 35 hl/ha. The vinification was normal except for problems with room in the vats. Everything is destemmed apart from the Bourgogne Rouge, with ten days on the skins. The wines aged in 10% new oak for the regional, 25% for the village crus and 50% for the premier and grand crus. We will bottle a bit earlier as the malolactic was lower than usual, so the wines tend to mature more quickly. We want to keep the freshness and not expose them to too much oxygen. I think 2023 is more delicate and elegant than 2022. The wines will be more approachable, while 2023 is a little more dense and complete. I suspect we will drink the 2023s before the 2022s.”