2008 Vosne Romanee Aux Reignots

Bitter chocolate adds to the richness but also darkness of black raspberry, purple plum, peat, and soy in Lachaux’s 2008 Vosne Romanee Aux Reignots, which displays a formidable alliance of density and richness to saliva-inducing savor and lift, and of sweetness of fruit to striking minerality. The 100% new wood in which this was raised is simply not an issue, being seamlessly integrated without unduly accentuating the wine’s native tannins. Vibratory resonance in the finish illustrates the strong suite of the vintage, and I expect that this will be well worth following for 12-15 years, fully demonstrating the grand cru qualities of this site high above La Romanee. I tasted Pascal Lachaux’s 2008s soon after their late-January bottling, and a few of them may have been suffering from trauma they thereby sustained, but on the whole this was an impressive if darkly-hued and unapologetically firmly-structured collection. Lachaux reports that his malos were “on time, normal,” and adds “the truth about 2008 and why the malos were so often retarded is that people sulfured the fruit too heavily at the advice of their enologues.” Even at bottling, Lachaux reports that he was sparing with sulfur and expected to take advantage of the high levels of residual CO2 in his 2008s. He says he allowed temperatures to rise during the fermentation as a means of extracting more flavor without having to actively work the cap and in consequence risk pulling out green flavors or hard tannins. This approach may explain the particularly low-toned personality of this 2008 collection, which certainly didn’t leave me wishing that the wines had sustained additional pigeage! If the number of magnums I saw is any indication, Lachaux seriously intends on putting to the test his confidence in this vintage’s aging potential. Yet he is also very keen on his 2007s, those of which I tasted from bottle were indeed impressive, though I seem even in this instance to be missing what those growers most enamored of their 2007s profess to perceive. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990