2010 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru

Sylvain Cathiard picked in just four and a half days starting on September 25, with grape sugars in the healthy 12.8% to 13.2% range. For him, 2010 and 2009 are a bit like 1991 and 1990. "The '91s were appreciated later on," he explained. Cathiard does a strict spring pruning but does not green-harvest, as he says this technique "produces a compensation and throws off nature's balance." All of the wines below beginning with the Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Thoreys are aging in 100% new oak and had not yet been racked. In recent years, Cathiard has frequently asked me if I found his wines too oaky in the early going, and in some cases I have. But the track record here suggests that most of them have the material to support the wood element, even if the wines will need time to absorb it. "One hundred percent new oak is my style," Cathiard told me. "I'm too old to change." (A Becky Wasserman Selection; importers include Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; and Wines Unlimited, New Orleans, LA)