Recently I had a chance to taste and listen to Charles when he was in town earlier this month, and he had much to say. One thing that stuck out for me is that he said that he approaches his vineyard work more as a gardener than a farmer. He went in depth into changes made in both the vineyards and in the winery itself. He is exclusively using ceramic for aging his wines now, and is looking to age his wines for at least 3 years. And no, I did not ask him to defend his pricing… But I wonder about a vigneron being more of a gardener. What are the innate differences between a farmer and a gardener and how might that register in the wine?
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When you’re a “gardener,” it registers as an extra zero on the price of the wine.
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No wood at all?
Yes, no wood at all from 2021 for the Domaine wines and 2022 for most of the negociant wines. I had a couple of glasses of his negoce 2022 Corton Charlemagne which (per Charles) is the only grand cru made in the Cote d’or with no oak at all. I had thought Bachelet Monnot made their Batard entirely in steel, but Charles said they use neutral oak for part of the elevage.
As to @NMalhotra’s question, I honestly don’t know what the differences would be; maybe less of a focus on yields?
Wow, that’s a pretty radical step. Who else, particularly with such core holdings and wines, uses no wood at all?
Has he released “lesser” wines previously, as a trial?
and? eager for impressions svp.
For a devoted gardener, he does appear to spend an inordinate amount of time away from his garden… perhaps he simply forgot to buy barrels?
WK mentioned this recently, though I don’t recall where. I love the wines and am very curious how this will change things.
My understanding is that farmer denotes commercial activity and the processes that go with that to maximize profit. This could be higher yields and using fertilizer to achieve it, use of pesticides, and other measures. Also means not doing things that cost without firm understanding of how they increase profit. Gardener on the other hand implies one that isn’t focused on the business and will approach things differently as the product is for their own consumption. Processes may cost more, quantity may be lower but taste is the goal.
How that translates to actual processes or how that is different from the past, I have no clue.
The two examples from the current Lachaux regime that I have drunk have been properly magnificent and yet I can’t help but feel that the whole phenomenon is a symptom of the way that wine has now become something that is taken vastly too seriously.
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- Per Charles, no one uses no oak on grand crus (excluding Chablis, of course).
- I’m not aware of him releasing lesser wines as trials (though I’m sure he did his own!). He has purchased massive clay vessels to hold all the Domaine wines, which was a massive investment, so it was not gradual.
I liked it, but it’s negoce, not Domaine, and a white, rather than a red (in which he obviously specializes). It was a good bottle of wine, but hard to know how it will develop (it was just bottled) and I haven’t yet tasted enough 22 whites to put it into context (Lafon, Dancer, Lafarge, some others). It certainly had no vanilla notes, nice fruit.
I thought the 19 Chaumes at the same dinner was far and away the best wine we had.
I appreciate that you’re joking, but I’ve seen the plots, and he’s quite serious about the farming.
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What I have tasted so far from Charles was good, but far less than stunning (no whites) - only the prices are soaring.
Ok, the blabla about gardening may feed the impressios of “spectacular”, but imo it s only “wine” without any oak, quite high in acidity - and not really deep colour. Aging potential? No idea.
What gardening has to do with negoce wines (bought in grapes or wine) really escapes me …
Anyway I m totally outpriced, depending on a drop from friends in tastings here and there.
Everything Brian Flip says is correct, but I would add one further detail: If you say that you are a gardener, you want to suggest that you are thinking about your plants – about what you can do to help each plant thrive.
Both used wood and ceramics for 2021, Greg!
And d’Auvenay Criots is often in steel…
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Thank you for the correction. Though I definitely recall Charles being pretty certain about being the only one not to use any oak! I guess he doesn’t drink too much d’auvenay either 
The only thing I know about the ARNOUX-LACHAUX domaine is that prices got totally wild there…old customers do no longer count ! By the way: the 2020s i tasted were all great but only affordable to millionaires…
Right.
A friend of mine, long time Arnoux customer, got an allocation of only 6 bottles, with only 1 Premier Cru, the rest Village and Bg rouge.
Price: 1800 €.
So far about " valuable customers" - disgusting -
pretty sure Michel/Frederic Magnien use only ceramic all the way up to the Grand Crus.
Right you are Paul. In fact that is disgusting. i was a client there already when the late great ROBERT ARNOUX was still around. i could buy 6 R-st-VIVANTS, 6 SUCHOTS and 6 CLOS VOUGEOT at the time. Now we are kicked out by uninteresting allocations pretty similar to the one you described at skyhigh prives you would never pay not even for a very good premier cru. And I am afraid lots of the new generation viticulteurs are following CHARLES regarding price policy.
SINCERELY JOHAN
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