2019 Charles Lachaux Gevrey Chambertin En Reniard

Charles Lachaux is the eponymous label of the young man who relatively recently took over managing and winemaking at the venerable Arnaux-Lachaux (formerly known as Robert Arnaux) in the village of Vosne Romanee in Burgundy. The Lachaux wines are built around the Aligote grape from both his family’s vineyards and other small plantings in Burgundy. The wines were an immediate sensation and have, since their launch with the 2018 vintage, because extraordinarily difficult to find. The Aligote bottling, including the coveted Les Champs d’Argent, is often produced from grapes taken from very old vineyards that earlier had been sold for inclusion in mass production Burgundy. The Charles Lachaux label is giving these old Aligote plantings a new spotlight. Bid on Charles Lachaux wine online on WineBid today!

Côte de Nuits is the northern part of the Côte d’Or and it includes the most famous vineyards and wine communes in the world. There are more Grand Cru appellations in the Côte de Nuits than anywhere else in Burgundy. Of the fourteen communes, or villages in the Côte de Nuits, six produce Grand Cru wines. They are Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St.-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Flagey-Échezeaux and Vosne-Romanee. Some of the vineyards within the Côte de Nuits are tiny, which adds to their prestige. The fabled Grand Cru vineyard La Romanee is barely two square acres. Altogether there are twenty-four Grand Cru vineyards. The region takes its name from the village of Nuits-Saint-Georges. Côtes de Nuits produces mostly reds from Pinot Noir, and the wines have been in demand for centuries. During the 18th century King Louis XIV’s physician recommended that for his health the king only drink wines from Nuits-Saint-Georges. Like most of Burgundy, the soils of the Côte de Nuit can vary greatly from one vineyard to another, though most are a base soil of limestone mixed with clay, gravel and sand.

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.