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.