Jean CLaude Chanudet makes the wines the way Joseph Chamonard used to make them. A traditional maceration beaujolaise. Partially carbonic, partially yeast fermented followed by a traditionnal long elevage. the no sulfur thing has nothing to do with it, of course.
Far from the strict cold carbonic that Neauport (and not really Chauvet) made popular.
I think the longevity of the wines has at least as much to do with the terroir (mostly corcelettes, always more "tardif" than say Py), the vine growing, the age of the vines than the winemaking itself. His wines can seem leaner at first, but my experience is that these wines reach heights that very few others can reach.
And I have strictly no explanation for that.
But I know the man, his vineyards, his wines and their history, and like Joe Dressner tought me, this is plenty enough to make your mind about a wine.
2010 is a great vintage in Morgon, and Chanudet never made a bad wine in 30 years. Plus, every single time I had the wine, I found what I have been finding in his wines for the past 25 years, and that I can't really objectively describe.
This is why I believe that this wine will be a very singular expression of the terroir of Morgon in a few years.
Tasting can add an information to the rest, but, for me, is hardly the alpha and omega of the longevity determination.
If I know nothing about a wine, the grower, the terroir, I don't think that so called structure can be a sign of anything. Or acidity, or anything else.
I remember clearly the first time I tasted a Rayas wine. It was 1983 Fonsalette. I said right away that the wine was already showing signs of decline. A few days later my old friend Alain Doerfler went into his cellar to pick a 52 Rayas. And poured it blind. The wine was incredibly fresh and young. Last time I had 83 Fonsalette, it tasted very much like this 52 Rayas.
The only objective thing that make Rayas obviously ageable (except in monster vintages like 1995 or 2001) is that Rayas History shows us that Rayas always ages with grace, even in the Emmanuel Reynaud era.