Tasted in Morey St.Denis with Cyprien Arlaud, 19 November, 2019.
Domaine Arlaud Père et Fils
41 Rue Epernay
21220 Morey St.Denis
Tel: +33 3 80 34 32 65
www.domainearlaud.com
More reports for Domaine Arlaud
Cyprien on 2019:
“In 2019 we started with six nights in the vines in April – frost fighting – also using the windmill in the vines, we’re the first in the Côte de Nuits to buy one – it seems to have worked quite well and we also used candles in the vines too. The growing season wasn’t too challenged by the mildew as not too wet – we even managed to reduce the amount of copper that we used. The growing season brought worry of oïdium but it was not so bad. The harvest was the first time I made three different sampling campaigns – for each plot – new vineyards in Nuits and contracts like in Vosne – 8 ha where the home team picked. There were very big differences of ripeness between the blocks – the dryness was the difficulty. Harvesting started Friday 13 September. Two domaine wines plus the new Côte de Nuits Villages on the first day – the higher alcohol being the CDNV, the older biodynamic vines in 2019 gave a super balance, those that were already in organic conversion were balanced too, but we lost 40%. The new vines, conventionally farmed had less balance plus higher alcohol. Three different farming styles three different results in terms of balance and yields.”
Cyprien on 2018:
“2018 needed care in the vinification – here I think I can feel the climate change more in the cuverie with the fermentations etcetera – really a close eye on the fermentations. True it was a warm vintage but the vines did their job very well. We don’t like to do it, but there was a little green harvesting needed around the vines of Chambolle. 2018 is pretty rich, there are some tannins and they accumulate when tasting them. The imprint of the vintage is strong on the regional and village wines but as we hit the 1ers, and higher, their characters and freshness is easily visible. We often get a storm or storms in august and in dry vintages like 18 and 19 it’s really important to catch that rain to help with the balance. Warm vintages are not my cup of tea but wines still amaze me with their combination of richness and freshness”
I asked Cyprien about his use of green harvests in the last couple of vintages: “Since we have been biodynamic, no green harvesting has been necessary, but the effect of 2016 frost in the following year can be seen in the biodynamic vineyards too – It’s the only reason, and if it’s needed, then it’s needed. We did it in August, keeping only those clusters that were starting to show veraison.”
The wines…
On the day I tasted, the villages wines really didn’t want to play – full, warm-fruited, and missing some energy – or maybe as Cyprien noted – at this level they have a stronger imprint from the vintage. But the higher wines became much more interesting and communicated very well their energy and delicious nature.
All barrel samples:
2018 Bourgogne Roncevie
35k bottles from the more than 5 ha.
A compact nose. Big in the mouth – it’s fresh but it’s also massive. The flavour of the finish is actually quite elegant compared to what went before. Be patient, there’s a lot of wine here.
2018 Morey St.Denis
From 2 parcels; Les Seuvrées and Clos Solon.
Again a nose that is very wide but compact in the higher tones – an impression of texture here. Wide, deep, full of velvet texture. Long and impressive finish. Suave…
2018 Chambolle-Musigny
Normally from 5 parcels, all close to Morey.
Again the nose is like the last two. Finer fruit here, but in the middle there’s no lack of velvet tannin – here even finer than the last. Long finishing again but on a more subtle concentration of flavour.
2018 Gevrey-Chambertin
From Seuvrées and La Justice.
A more open nose, touched by some floral component. More open and structural, a touch of bitters in the flavour but I find this shape and fruit the most appealing of the 3 villages so far. More tannic – needing a little patience today.
2018 Vosne-Romanée (Maison)
Fuller, more open, more classical wine with a good Vosne spice. A palate that’s packed with concentration and structure – the finest tannin of all these – practically no grain – but there’s still some astringence at this stage. Tasty and long finishing. Super.
2018 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Noirots
A darker fruit – good width with some higher tones too. Much more sleek, cool fruit too. Becoming wider and wider on the palate. Open – compared to some less sweet – but this has great shape – excellent wine, a very long, faintly mouth-watering finish!
2018 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Sentiers
A little extra roundness of oak on this fine, red-fruited nose. Like the Noirots, sleek, great shape, driving but still wide. Extra tannin here. Love the last notes on the palate. Yum!
2018 Maison Nuits St.Georges 1er Cuvée Joseph
Named after grandfather from Cros and Argillières
A little reduction but quite some volume of aroma. Extra sweetness and drive from the fruit – wider, tasty ripe fruit in the middle. Less class but a good mouthful of tasty wine.
2018 Morey St.Denis 1er Les Blanchards
That’s a nice width of aroma – almost a little almond/almond blossom on the nose. Drive, width and energy. Love the structure here – but wait a little. Super.
A vineyard that touches on Mazoyères. 35-year-old vines.
A depth to this nose. Super freshness and drive the finest of tannin, and a width of energetic flavour. Tongue saturating – bravo!
2018 Morey St.Denis 1er Les Ruchots
A nice freshness here – lovely width with a fine invitation. Hmm, more relaxed delivery of very fine flavour. Still with super concentration and a cooler style than the villages wines.
One part here is 96 years old.
A more open freshness with some higher-toned red fruit – super depth of fine fruit here. Yes – directly fresh, cool-fruited, beautifully textured – what a great wine. Super energy, texture and great complexity – bravo!
2018 Charmes-Chambertin
A more mineral width, still with sweet fruit as a support. Supple, depth of flavour, nice indeed, narrow and mouth-watering finishing line of flavour. A little less character, but more wine…
2018 Clos de la Roche
A faint touch of almond on this sleek nose. Fuller, a wine with more energy – really much more in the middle – there’s a mouth-watering, darkly mineral, core to the finishing flavour – that’s super!
2018 Clos St.Denis
Extra colour. Plenty of aroma, but more rounded aroma vs the Roche – a faint cushioning to this gorgeous fruit. Driving, gorgeous (again) flavour – the fruit is very fine, the structure faintly grained. Half a beautiful wine, half a suggestion of too much. Super wine.
From the Chambolle side, including vines in both terres-blanches and terres-rouges. ‘A climat that struggles more than most when the weather is hot and dry. Here we have the best results from ploughing with a horse – we’ve been doing it here for 15 years – it allows us to capture late August rains much better than before.’
There is much concentration here, though less wish to share that. Hmm, fresh, driving wine – growing in both volume and intensity, extra in the middle and finish, less padding than in the CSD. Something of a haunting line of finishing flavour. Great, great class.