2022 La Tache

Vines 50 years old, yield 37.6 hl/ha. Harvested 4–6 September. Bottled 5 March 2024. Total production 2,227 x 12. Mid to light cherry red. Like the Richebourg, this is marked by a subtle but definite – and attractive – whole-bunch sappy impression that is perfectly married to the fruit. The fruit smells tarter here than in the Richebourg, more cranberry than raspberry. But over all this is wonderful stony/mineral overlay. As if you were sipping the wine standing in a chalk quarry. Savoury and peppery as it opens but also the darker perfume of peony. Elegant, tannic hold, to say 'grip' would be too firm, but it holds everything in place and the finish is so fresh and so long. Really tight at the moment but with glorious potential. (JH)

The 2022 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked 4 to 6 September at 37.6 hL/ha. It is a vintage that demands time in the glass. Occasionally, La Tâche gives immediate pleasure, but the 2022 is more contained and reserved—it hides its secrets well. Eventually, the 2022 offers a mélange of red and black fruit, Earl Grey and undergrowth. Interestingly, there remains a patina of whole-cluster herbal notes that will be subsumed with time, though obviously that indicates this is not a La Tâche primed for early drinking. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins and a killer spine of acidity that lends a frisson of tension from start to finish. here is a linearity about this La Tâche allied with sapidity, extremely complex with ineffable precision. This is a brilliant La Tâche that flirts with perfection. 2,227 cases produced.

The 2022 La Tâche Grand Cru is the most complex and compelling wine in the range at this early stage. Wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet red berries and plums mingled with rose petals, orange zest, exotic spices, incense and wintergreen, it's full-bodied, rich and layered, with a deep and pure core of fruit, lively acids and sweet, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, gently oak-inflected finish. It was harvested the fourth through the sixth of September, just after the Grands-Échézeaux, and bottled in March 2024.