Tasted in Vosne-Romanée with Sophie Noëllat, 02 October 2020.

Domaine Michel Noëllat & Fils
5, rue de la Fontaine
Vosne-Romanée 21700
Tel: +33 3 80 61 36 87
www.domaine-michel-noellat.com
More reports for Domaine Michel Noellat

A domaine exploiting 27 hectares with 22 different appellations – so quite an important domaine, even by Vosne standards.

Sophie on 2020:
“We harvested from 02 September. Confinement time was actually very busy as the vines were growing so fast but we had a good flowering. We waited for rain in the summer which unfortunately didn’t come. The grapes were nice though – warm – but we’re well equiped for that these days. Concentrated, beautiful, but nearly half a harvest.”

Sophie on 2019:
“In 2019 the harvest brought a little more than in 2020 – but mot greatly so. We had good volumes in 17 and 18 but not for the last two years. We have an average vine age thats very old – nearly 70 – so we have anyway lower volume harvests. There’s plenty of work required because as much as we love the history in these vines, we need to bring the average age down a little.”

The wines…

I’m seeing very fine differentiation of the villages here – blind you would, most likely, guess which is which. A delicious range of wines with a number of highly recommendable bottles.

2019 Savigny-lès-Beaune
A mix of parcels, from 500-litre barrels. Vermots and Gollardes, to be bottled before the end of the year.
Hmm, a compact but fine nose of darker fruit. Hmm, that’s simply delicious, open nicely complex, a little floral perfume in the mouth. Stricter finishing, but still only modestly-so. Lovely energy.

​2019 Fixin
From 4 different parcels in Fissey – elevage in larger format barrels.
A little more open, this nose is slightly more generous and floral. More direct, nicely structured, again florals in the mix. Lovely mouth-watering finish. Love this!

2019 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
Higher-toned aromas. Wider, fuller but not denser. There’s some wc here that really makes a difference – 30-40%. Long, nice wine here. Less density than the previous wine – very different style but also very tasty.

2019 Vosne-Romanée
3 lieu-dits assembled.
Perfume, though also some smoky barrel here. Hmm, that’s a nice line of flavour, the tannin of the new barrel, again showing the village very well. Excellent.

2019 Nuits St.Georges
2 parcels on the Vosne side of Nuits
A little tighter in the higher tones, but here is a glossy and fine width of fresh ripe dark red fruit. Open, growing with florals in the fruit, mouth-watering again. Structured but not tannic – I like the shape and extra minerality here – just the tip of the tongue showing the tannin. That’s less showy but leaves a very lovely impression…

2019 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Noirots
A little rounder, a little oak – a new demi-muid was used. Round in the mouth too, easy, only slowly releasing its complexity. Rather easy for a 1er today – I’d happily drink it though.

2019 Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes
An impression of a little wc aroma – but here there is none. Energy, complexity, a little wood tannin. Long, layered. A very pretty wine again.

2019 Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
2 parcels, one on the top part near RSV, the other right in the middle of the lower part.
Good depth of aroma – a little narrower in the width. Like the Chaumes, here the wood tannin has altered the perception of the wine, hinting towards wc when there’s none, the finishing flavour is lovely. The nose opening more and more with air – very backwards-showing these 1ers – but each is getting better all the time with air.

2019 Vosne-Romanée 1er Beaumonts
70-80 yo vines here. About 1 ha – they have similar to in Suchots – it seems to depend on the vintage as to whether this is shown before, or after, their Suchots.
A little smoky oak again, this needs plenty of air. A grain of tannin, but probably more barrel-related. Wider, more layered and rich. Saline finishing, a smaller but definitely not a shorter finish. Yum.

2019 Nuits St.Georges 1er Boudots
Vines next to Malconsorts
More open and perfumed – there’s a little barrel here too, but this is an attractive invitation. Hmm, that is a beautiful blend of freshness and silk – an impressive depth of minty and ripe fruit but always with a little mouth-watering side. That will be supper such a subtly long, long finish too. Excellent wine!

2019 Echézeaux du Dessous
Here they have two parcels, but as they use Dessous on label, they don’t include the part in Treux.
Now that’s a very forward and open nose. There’s a little almond and oak but there is so much more too. Fresh, complex, mobile – a wine that plays across the palate with super energy – the oak showing the flavours but not for too long I expect. That’s excellent, even for an Echézeaux!