Domaine de l'Arlot Romanee St Vivant Grand Cru 2020
In 1991, Domaine de l’Arlot was able to purchase a few rows of Romanée-Saint-Vivant in the Quatre Journaux terroir (the ‘island’ of RSV below La Romanée-Conti, where Arnoux-Lachaux is also based). It’s a jewel of a plot, with 24 rows over a tiny quarter-hectare parcel, planted in 1973. On average, it produces only three barrels of wine, and our average allocation is 12-18 bottles—less for 2020! It was vinified with 90% whole bunches in a single, 15-hectolitre wooden fermenter. The aging occurred in mostly one, two and three-year-old barrels, with 40% new oak. The notes describe the outstanding quality on offer here. It’s a wine that really showcases the terroir beautifully; pure and seductive with lacy, grenadine, rose and brown spice noted fruit, sweet tannins and impeccable length. Already wonderful, it will only get better.
“The 2020 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru is beautiful on the nose with harmonious, very pure dark cherries, violet and peony, blackcurrants and touches of rosemary. You could just inhale this all day. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent ripe tannins, fine acidity, taut and fresh with just the right amount of spice towards the finish. So much energy here, this will be difficult to resist in its youth.”95-97 points, Neal Martin, Vinous
“Very refined in its aromas, delicately smoky and overflowing with small black fruits, the Saint-Vivant holds its rank with its slender and very persistent frame, and its tonic and succulent flesh sprinkled with small lively and fresh bursts.”97 points, La Revue du Vins de France
“Separated from La Romanée-Conti by only a small road, this is primo Grand Cru territory, even if de l’Arlot’s plot is only a quarter-hectare. The vines are about 40 years old, and Géraldine used a generous 90% whole cluster here. They give a woodsy tension to the wine now, but this should integrate in time into the multi-dimensional palate that flourishes with ripe red fruits and tapers slowly into its finish.”95 points, Christine Canterbury MW, Tim Atkin Burgundy Report