Vosne Romanée Les Chaumes, Domaine Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux 2019

The 2019 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Chaumes has realized all the potential it displayed in barrel. Mingling aromas of wild berries and cassis with hints of rose petals and loamy soil in an inviting bouquet, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and enveloping, with a deep core of fruit, lively acids and velvety tannins. This is a cuvée that has really taken a step up this year. Drink 2025-2055.

The Arnoux-Lachaux rows run from top to bottom, in the middle of the vineyard. This displays one of the darker colours (relatively) with a little white pepper showing through on the nose. Plenty of flesh but as ever in this superbly balanced style. Terrific weight through the middle then a lovely bright touch of cinnamon, over and above the suave gorgeous balanced fruit with just a touch of darker fruit at the finish. Brisk and savoury with underlying sweet charm. 5 Stars.

An exuberantly fresh nose is comprised of subtly spiced aromas of red and dark currant, violet, lavender and discreet sandalwood wisps. There is impressive mid-palate density to the lavish and seductively textured flavors that coat the palate with dry extract on the caressing and once again sneaky long finish. Like several wines in the range, this too needs to develop more depth and my predicted range accords the benefit of the doubt. As an aside, I would make the same observation here that I made about the Procès in that this is a very fine example of what I consider to be a perfect example of a good but not particularly distinguished Vosne 1er. Outstanding. Drink 2027+