Romanée St Vivant Grand Cru

When the Latour family registered their 0.8-hectare holding in Romanée-Saint-Vivant under the name Les Quatre Journaux — 'the four journals,' a medieval unit of land measure — they were staking a claim in one of the Côte de Nuits' most geologically privileged corridors. The parcel sits on the thin, well-drained limestone and marl soils of Vosne-Romanée's eastern slope, where shallow topsoil forces vine roots deep into fractured bedrock, concentrating extract and sharpening mineral tension across a growing season.

100% hand-harvested Pinot Noir, fully destemmed and crushed, ferments in large open wooden vats at the Corton Grancey Cuverie over approximately 14 days with manual pigeage, transported entirely by gravity throughout. Aging proceeds in 100% new French oak pièces (228 L), medium toast, built at the house's own cooperage from oak air-dried 24–36 months, for 10–12 months.

The defining transgression: Louis Latour flash-pasteurises all red wines at approximately 72°C for 2–3 seconds before bottling — the only major Burgundy house to do so openly and consistently — eliminating fining entirely as the wine falls clear naturally over 2–3 months post-treatment. In 2012, a vintage of genuine Côte de Nuits tension and age-worthiness, this wine rewards patience; the combination of a warm, even growing season and naturally high-acid Vosne terroir produced structured, concentrated reds with a long drinking arc.