2018 Arnoux-Lachaux Nuits-St.-Georges 1er Cru 'Les Proces'

ETA Mid-June 2024

With 14.5 hectares of land to their name, the Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux has enviable resources, the greatest of them perhaps being the man in charge - Charles Lachaux. With his mother Florence alongside him, Charles devoted his efforts early on to revitalizing the impressive range of vineyards that date back to 1921 - an average of 60+ years across them all. The changes include higher and denser canopies than is normal throughout Burgundy as so many opt for the more neatly-manicured hedges that photograph well. This means more manpower is needed, but the grapes are picked earlier as this allows for earlier picking at perfect ripeness.

In the winery, Charles installed a vertical press which, again, is more time-consuming as it presses smaller loads more delicately, but the result is a finer, less obtuse wine. He also greatly reduced the use of new oak, and instituted the inclusion of some whole clusters being retained for fermentations; today some of the wines are entirely whole-cluster.