Charles Lachaux, Pascal’s son, took over from his father in 2012. The stakes are high when the wines that you are making are some of the rarest and most sought after in the world. In the case of Romanée Saint Vivant for Charles Lachaux, he only had one chance in 2012, as he only made a single barrel. Talk about pressure! Charles explained that harvest was so busy, that he didn’t have time to consider an undesirable outcome.

At Bowler, we’ve always been impressed when tasting at Arnoux-Lachaux and the wines have reached new heights since Charles joined his father. Today, Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux has 14.5 hectares some of the most prized vineyards in Vosne-Romanée and equally high-quality vineyards in Nuits-Saint-Georges. The vines average fifty years old and the oldest, Nuits-Saint-Georges Clos des Corvées Pagets, were planted in 1921. In 2010, Pascal purchased a vertical press, making Arnoux-Lachaux one of just a handful of wineries using this type of press in Burgundy. They prefer it to a pneumatic press because it presses very gently and extracts less. In 2012, Charles’s first year, they introduced some partial whole-cluster fermentation and pleased with the results, they used a higher proportion of whole-clusters in the 2013 and 2014 vintages. In general, the 1er cru wines have up to 55% whole-cluster and the grand cru up to 100%. The amount of new oak has been reduced since 2012 as well: a total of 20-25% on village wines, 40-45% on premier cru and a maximum of 80% on grand cru.

Charles is also changing how he is working in the vineyards and is touching each vine. In his top sites, inspired by Lalou Bize-Leroy, he has stopped hedging his vines. This allows for more photosynthesis, getting more energy to each grape. The wines have an incredible energy, and elegance, and are some of the best expressions of Vosne and Nuits available.

2016 Vintage Review from Vinous (January 2018): “This estate in Vosne-Romanée lost 60% of its production in 2016, mostly due to the April frost, making just 20 hectoliters per hectare overall… (Charles) Lachaux finds the ‘16s to be ‘purer and more traditional, with more terroir specificity and energy than the much denser 2015s.’ Still, 3.6 was the lowest pH in 2016.

The young Lachaux has made many important changes in viticulture and vinification since taking over the estate from his father Pascal. One of the most important involves canopy management: Lachaux now prunes tall (the fruiting zone is at a very high 1.7 meters) and a full month after the flowering, which makes for more leaves and enhanced photosynthesis, which in turn results in riper seeds in the grapes and enables the estate to harvest up to a week earlier than their neighbors. Grape sugars in 2016 were in the healthy 13% range and Lachaux chaptalized lightly only to extend the otherwise very quick fermentations. He vinified with almost the same high percentage of whole clusters as he had in 2015.”     – Stephen Tanzer