Domaine de l'ARLOT (Prémeaux) -- 2021 Tasted from Bottle

 

Subscribe to my free Substack blog and receive email notification of all new posts.

2021 was a disastrously small vintage for white wines in the Côte d’Or, and Domaine de l’Arlot was no exception. Overall volume was down 65% from a full year. As a result, only two white wines were produced. 

All wines below, including the reds, excepting the Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits which is bottled with DIAM, are bottled with cork. Alcohols are in the 13 to 13.5% range. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: 2022 Tasted from Barrel

 

It’s not so easy to write about my experience tasting the 2022 wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti from barrel. I have tasted every vintage from bottle from 1985 to 2017. Additionally, beginning in the early 1990s, I have tasted every vintage from barrel up to the 2018 vintage. Tasting the 2022s was my first time back at the Domaine to taste from barrel since tasting the 2018s in 2019. 

So from the foregoing, you can see that I have tasted many great vintages and many great wines from the Domaine. Consequently, when I say that I came away from my tasting of the 2022s feeling that it was the most impressive set of wines I’ve ever tasted there, that is a statement that means something. That said, as I pointed out in my introduction to the vintage overall, there are serious shortcomings to comparing wines across periods of time, just as there are to comparing paintings, music, literature, and so on across time: 

"producers in a given era are responding to environments, problems, and questions that are of their era and not the same as those faced by producers in a different era. For wine, there is no question that global warming has changed the game in recent years and continues to do so. In particular, for Burgundy, the prospect of a vintage without sufficient ripeness is almost unthinkable these days, whereas the prospects of wines with excess alcohol and ripeness of fruit and deficient acidity are constant challenges.”

That said, Aubert de Villaine compares the vintage to 1959, a great and abundant year of wines that impressed and drank well immediately and where the greatest can still offer astonishing experiences.

Bertrand de Villaine, who has now taken over from his uncle Aubert de Villaine, said that the Domaine has been making various changes to deal with global warming. For example, in the past, dried berries were added back to the grapes to be fermented for their sugar, but the sugar no longer is needed. 

After a small 2021 due to frost damage, a generous 2022 was expected — if all other elements went well — because the vines compensate that way. There was hot and mostly dry weather through mid-August, resulting in a an early bud break and an early and rather rapid flowering (the rapidity being important for uniformity of maturity at harvest time). By August, some vines had ceased to continue to progress in maturity, but rain from 15-18 August was just what was needed to remedy the problem.

Harvesting began on 30 August with the Corton. For 2022, all the reds are 100% whole cluster. The reds finished their malolactic fermentations in late April, but the whites were still fermenting when I visited in the first week of June. (I did taste the partially-fermented Corton-Charlemagne, reported below and not the definitive blend, but not the Montrachet). Also, because the Corton was in a different cellar, I did not taste that wine.

The estate, of course, has long been organic and biodynamic. (Continue reading here.)

Subscribe to my Substack here.

J. J. Confuron (Prémeaux) -- 2022's Tasted from Barrel and a 2021 Tasted from Bottle

 

I have been visiting this estate since the mid-1990s. The wines have always been of high quality (a 2001 Romanée-Saint-Vivant that I opened at the end of last year was all that one could have asked of that great vineyard), but there has been a welcome evolution over the years toward wines with less new oak and more elegance.

Alain and Sophie Meunier’s son Louis has now taken charge of the fermentations here and further added to the trend toward elegance and balance. Specifically, he has increased the period of cold maceration, does very little physical intervention, and uses much less SO₂. 

In short, this is an estate that has not received as much attention as it deserved in the past and that appears now to be poised to go to go to very top echelons of quality. Those lamenting the high prices of recent Burgundy vintages will find good values and quality wines at the lower levels. Those seeking top-of-the-heap Burgundy will focus on the top appellations.

Harvesting in 2022 began at the end of August. Overall yields were 39 hl/ha. Malolactic fermentations here were rapid, as was the case generally in 2022.

All wines below are red wines and were tasted from barrel. The estate has been organic since 1989, quite early for Burgundy. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Sylvain CATHIARD (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel

(Please see my overall comments on the 2018 Côte d’ Or vintage here.)

Sébastien Cathiard said that he began harvesting on 8 September and finished on the 11th. Alcohols range from 12.8º to 13.5º. No whole clusters were used in 2018. Malolactic fermentations finished between March and July. Following malos, pHs ranged from 3.45 to 3.55.

The good news is that this tiny estate (4.6 ha exploited in 2018) is expanding (8.35 ha exploited in 2019). The new vineyards are all regional appellations, but the quality even at that level is very high here. There are new farming agreements for Bourgogne-Aligoté and Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits Chardonnay, there will be two cuvées of Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits Pinot Noir, and an additional 1/3 ha of Bourgogne Pinot Noir from vines located in Gevrey-Chambertin below the route nationale.

(Continue reading here.)

Domaine ARNOUX-LACHAUX (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2018 Part II: Premier Cru and Grand Cru Wines Tasted from Barrel

My introduction to the 2018 vintage at Arnoux-Lachaux is here.

(Continue reading here.)

Domaine FOLLIN-ARBELET (Aloxe-Corton) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel and Tank and Some 2017s Tasted from Bottle

(Please see my overview of the 2018 vintage in the Côte d’Or here.)

Franck Follin-Arbelet said the he began harvesting on 29 August with the Charlemagne (the red Corton), then moved to the Aloxe-Clos du Chapître. Quantities are good but less than 2017. Alcohols generally are in the 13.5º-14º range with just a few above 14º. Grapes were entirely destemmed. Malo-lactic fermentations were very early, finishing in autumn and early winter. 

This is an excellent set of wines with freshness being a constant theme throughout the line.

Starting with the reds:

(Continue reading here.)

Domaine de la ROMANÉE-CONTI (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2017 Tasted from Bottle

My review of the 2017 wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tasted from barrel and explanation of the vintage is here.

The most notable fact is the exceptional quality of each of the wines. Should you be lucky enough to have access to and means to afford these wines, you don’t have to go for Romanée-Conti or La Tâche to experience the top greatness of Burgundy here. Each wine is in its proper place, although there is the unusual inversion of personalities of Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg that I observed already last year.

(Continue reading here.)

Domaine de la ROMANÉE-CONTI (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel

(Please see my overview of the 2018 vintage in Burgundy here.)

It was a roller-coaster growing season for everyone in Burgundy, but magnified in Vosne-Romanée where there was the most serious mildew pressure of recent years (but virtually no mildew in adjacent Flagey-Echézeaux or at Corton). There was some roasting of grapes in August in Vosne as a result of the mildew, and so those grapes were removed through sorting in the vineyards and again when the grapes came in to be crushed.

By mid-August, sugar levels of the grapes were already showing maturity, but the phenolic ripeness wasn’t there, and so the harvest waited. The vines were in a better position than in 2003, however, because there were better groundwater reserves to provide resistance to the heat. With hot, but not overly hot, weather the last ten days of August, the ripening accelerated, and on 31 August, the harvesting began at Corton, the first time the Domaine had harvested in August since 2003.

On 3 September, the harvesting began in Vosne with Richebourg, then in order Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Romanée-Conti (on 8 September, the day after a small storm the previous night), Grands-Echézeaux, Echézeaux, and La Tâche (finishing on 12 September). The Montrachet was harvested on 7 September. As mentioned above, there was a sorting of the grapes.

Yields ranged from 18 hl/ha for Romanée-Conti to 32 hl/ha for Grands-Echézeaux and 35 hl/ha for Corton. For Montrachet, I do not have a precise figure, but Aubert de Villaine’s vintage summary described the quantities as those “which we have not seen for some time”, keeping with what many other white producers experienced.

The vintage summary (dated 15 October 2018) also describes the wines as having the fruit of 2015 and the ripeness of 2003.

(Continue reading here.)

Domaine HUDELOT-NOËLLAT (Chambolle-Musigny) -- 2018 Tasted from Barrel

(Please see my overview of the 2018 vintage in Burgundy here.) 

Regular readers know that I’ve long been very positive on the wines here, but the 2018s rise above previous levels. This is one of the most impressive collections of the vintage.

Charles van Canneyt said that harvesting began on 5 September. Alcohols ranged from 13.5º to 14.2/3º. Charles did not want too much extraction and so did pumping over rather than punching down of the caps. All grapes were destemmed. Malolactic fermentations finished in July. (Continue reading here.)

Jean-Jacques CONFURON (Premeaux) -- 2017 Tasted from Bottle

My notes from tasting these wines from barrel the previous year are here.

These wines across the board are a fine demonstration of the excellent quality that the 2017 vintage can deliver. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de l'ARLOT (Premeaux-Prissey) -- 2018 Tasted from Bottle and Barrel Sample

(Please read the vintage summary here.)

Géraldine Godot, technical director, showed these wines on the last day prior to her taking maternity leave. She said that the vineyards in Premeaux had three big storms that not all villages got, which alleviated the drought in 2018; but the hail also damaged the vines to some extent.

Malo-lactic fermentations finished by end of October. Some wines are acidified - Gerbottes and Clos de l'Arlot in white, Côtes de Nuits-Villages, Clos de l’Arlot, and Suchots in red.

Hails in July (3 times) kept yields down, having the effect of a green harvest. Overall average yields were 29 hl/ha in 2018 for the domaine; there was no hail damage at Vosne-Romanée.

Suchots and Romanée-Saint-Vivant have 35% whole clusters, all the rest of the red wines have essentially none.

Harvesting began on 1 September at Vosne with Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Suchots. The harvesting finished on 7 September.

The Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits and the Côtes de Nuits-Villages in both colors have been in bottle since late August. The rest are samples closed with Coravin. I, and other colleagues, have found the Coravin closures not to preserve the wine samples very well, and hopefully we will not see them in the future. (Continue reading here)

Domaine ARNOUX-LACHAUX (Vosne-Romanée) -- 2016 Tasted from Tank and Barrel

(Originally published November 2017)

This estate was my first introduction to the sad fact that losses from the frost and the subsequent mildew were more severe than had previously been stated. In particular, I learned here that counter to what many have said, vineyards in both Vosne-Romanée and Gevrey-Chambertin were affected. Overall, the estate lost 60% of what would be a normal harvest. Two appellations, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Les Poisets and Clos-de-Vougeot, were not made in 2016 because damage losses there were so severe. Vosne-Romanée, Aux Reignots was the estate’s only appellation that did not suffer losses.

Harvesting began on 22 September with the Reignots. There was then a pause, and the harvesting of the remaining vineyards began on 26 September. There was no triage here, and only a minor amount of chaptalization in order to extend the fermentations. Malolactic fermentations began in late November and early December and finished in January, except for the Vosne-Chaumes, which took a bit longer.

These are dazzling wines with great finesse, precision, and fidelity to terroirs. Charles Lachaux continues to do wonderful things since he took over this already much-esteemed domaine.

The first four wines were racked three weeks prior to my tasting them and had been transferred to tanks to await bottling. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de l'ARLOT (Prémeaux-Prissey) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel and Tank Samples

(Originally published November 2017)

Géraldine Godot, the technical director of this biodynamic estate, said that losses in 2016 represented 70% of a normal crop. For the estate as a whole, the yield was 11 hl/ha.

Harvesting in 2016 began on 27 September and lasted six days. Malolactic fermentations were quite quick, finishing by the end of December. The percentages of whole clusters were quite high — not just because that is common practice here, but also because the stems were necessary to fill up the fermenting tanks. As a consequence, except for Clos de l’Arlot and Clos des Forêts Saint-Georges, the reds are entirely whole cluster. All the reds have 50% or less new oak.

There was some acidification for the Hautes Côtes de Nuits in red and white and also for the Côte de Nuits-Villages, Nuits-Clos de l'Arlot, and Vosne-Suchots.

The white wines were already in tank, the reds still in barrel. The whites and the red Bourgogne-Hautes Côtes de Nuits will be bottled in December, the other wines in April of next year.

Here, we start with the white wines: (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Alain HUDELOT-NOËLLAT (Chambolle-Musigny) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel

(Originally published November 2017)

Harvesting here began on 24 September. Overall, the estate suffered a loss of 30% from a normal harvest, reported Charles van Canneyt. In this vintage, he destemmed all the grapes because of the unevenness of the stem ripeness. The grapes, though, were very healthy, he continued, and there was almost no chaptalization for the wines. The village wines see about 20% new oak, the premiers crus 30-40%, and the grands crus 50%.

This is another in a string of very fine vintages under Charles. The terroirs really show through here.(Continue reading here.)

Domaine DUJAC (Morey-St-Denis) -- 2016 Part III: Grands Crus Tasted from Barrel

(Originally published January 2018)

I’ve mentioned previously that in 2015, one sees the vintage’s strength in the quality of the lesser appellations; the wines from the grands crus can be truly outstanding, but with a small number of exceptions, the grands crus hit ceilings that are below their maximum potential. In 2016, although there are very good wines from top producers from lesser appellations, it is with the top appellations that one sees the vintage at its most impressive. And that is certainly the case with Dujac, where the vintage has been most successful. These wines are all in the top group for their respective appellations, and the more one continues through the list, the greater the wines get and the fewer the challengers for top wine of the appellation. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine FOLLIN-ARBELET (Aloxe-Corton) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel and A Pair of 2015s Tasted from Bottle

(Originally published 4 March 2018)

Franck Follin-Arbelet said that losses from the frost meant that he did only about 30-35% of a full harvest. The harvesting began on 22 September. There was no red Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru in 2016, and the Aloxe-Corton and  Aloxe-Vercots also suffered badly. However,  following on the frost, there were no problems with mildew, and as a result, there was no need to do a triage. Whole clusters were used in about 10-20%, he said, but more for volume than anything else. 

Malolactic fermentations were late, many finishing in spring, but others dragged on until September.

As usual, there is very good quality here, and the best values probably come from the premier cru wines. The wines show the freshness of the vintage, a contrast to the 2015s where it is the power and ripeness that dominate. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Jean-Jacques CONFURON (Prémeaux-Prissey) -- 2016 Tasted from Bottle

My review of the Confuron wines from barrel 2016 is here. The vintage was very small in quantity, but is showing extremely well qualitatively. (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Jean-Jacques CONFURON (Prémaux-Prissey) -- 2016 Tasted from Barrel

(Originally published 1 November 2017.)

Alain Meunier said that harvesting began on 24 or 25 September.

Production here was only about 25% of a normal vintage. Worst hit by the freezes were Clos de Vougeot, Chambolle-Musigny, Bourgogne, Côte de Nuits-Villages, and village Nuits-Saint-Georges. There was no production of one of the two Côte de Nuits-Villages, and the amount of the Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru harvested was so small that it was blended with the village Chambolle-Musigny.

The estate follows organic practices in the vineyards.

The wines from vineyards that did not have whole clusters had slower malolactic fermentations (generally finishing in April) and had not been racked, yet, when I tasted in late October. We began with those wines: (Continue reading here.)

Domaine Jean-Jacques CONFURON (Prémeaux-Prissey) -- 2017 Tasted from Barrel

Alain Meunier said that he began harvesting 5 or 6 September. Over the summer, he had performed a green harvest. Resulting overall yields were about 40 hl/ha, which he described as “generous,” but that’s not surprising given the frost losses in 2016 and the tendency of vines to come back very vigorously the year following such a frost. There was a 2% bleeding of the vats (saigner) for all wines.

All wines that I tasted below were from destemmed grapes; there were some whole clusters in the Bourgogne, but I did not taste that wine, as it was being prepared for bottling or was already in bottle. 

Now working with his children, Alain said that there was more maceration and less punching down (pigeage) than in the past, less new oak, and as a result, less use of SO₂. The amount of new oak is 20% for village wines, 30% for 1er crus, and 50% for grands crus.

Malo-lactic fermentations took place at various times, some finishing in the January 2018, others finishing not long before I visited in November 2018.  (Continue reading here.)

Domaine de l'ARLOT (Prémeaux-Prissey) -- 2017 Tasted from Bottle and Tank and Barrel Samples

Harvesting began on 7 September, said technical director Géraldine Godot. Yields for this estate overall were 28.5 hl/ha, which she characterized as the lower part of normal.

Following my preference, we begin with the reds. (Continue reading here.)