Tasted in Vosne-Romanée with Maxime Cheurlin 02 November 2023.
Domaine Georges Noëllat
1 Rue des Chaumes
21700 Vosne-Romanée
Tel: +33 3 80 61 11 03
More reports with Domaine Georges Noëllat
Maxime on 2023 & 2022:
“Oh yes – I think we have some good things in 2023. For the 2022s we have done no bottlings so far. I may be starting bottling with the Hautes Côtes in December – the first rackings are just underway – I like what I see!”
The wines…
Some excellent wines but also some potentially great ones too – all are delicious!
2021 Bourgogne
‘I forgot to declare it as Côte d’Or!’
Good freshness – less impact than many 22s though with good perfume. Direct, wiry, a wine actually to wait for too – good intensity and a lovely finish but also a little austere today.
2021 Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits
A smaller nose again but here with more clarity of red fruit. Broad, more incisive – it’s still a more structural wine but it’s much less austere than the last wine. ‘These 21s are exactly what I’m looking for in a lunchtime glass of wine…‘
2021 Gevrey-Chambertin En Champs
Bought grapes but they have worked the vines for 4-5 years already.
That’s the finest nose – incisive and pure – really inviting. Supple – wide, melting – the tannin completely grainless. Delicious and with the structure to age too.
2021 Vosne-Romanée
Profound, faintly tobacco spiced. Broad and silky textured. Hmm, some extra salinity here too. More texturally sophisticated than the Gevrey but a hint more austere today – I’d be waiting 3+ years for this one.
2021 Beaune 1er Tuvilains
Hmm – that’s a really lovely perfume – airy, floral and with lovely red fruit. Broad and fresh, this has fine red fruit, darker, framed by slightly drying but not grainy tannin – almost a finishing creaminess to this flavour – I like this a lot!
2022s:
2022 Beaune 1er Clos de la Mignotte
Near les Avaux – 7 ouvrées – Had these vines since 2017
Quite forward, airy textured and attractively ripe fruit. Extra sweetness and a line of fresh, concentrated flavour – really easier to assimilate than the 21s today. Broad and quite intense finishing.
A narrower – more vertical – nose but these aromas have fine focus. Hmm, that’s a beauty – fluid, melting but with super clarity of concentrated, fleshy, fruit – nothing overdone. That’s a beauty – I could drink it today!
2022 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Feuselottes
A contract here since 2019, together with Bonnes-Mares and others.
Nicely elegant – as it should be – it’s not a big nose but it’s an inviting one. Wide, silky, extra fluid – cool fruit and growing with mouth-watering intensity – this is very fine!!! Very fine and perfumed finishing…
2022 Vosne-Romanée 1er les Chaumes
Half a hectare of vines forming the ‘garden’ of the domaine.
Redder fruit – a little more diffuse today – but growing more focused and with a little creaminess. The only young vines of the domaine with some over-grafting – Maxime’s still not the biggest fan. Cool, silky, very classy in the mouth – beautiful texture – some cherry stone in the finish too. Lovely wine.
2022 Maxime Cheurlin, Morey St.Denis 1er Monts Luisants
Maxime doesn’t do the work here – ‘but I know that it’s well done.’
Depth of cushioned fruit here – quite forward, less finely focused starting but with air this is becoming very lovely. Hmm – top in the mouth silky, growing wider, the finishing flavour with fine intensity and a faint tannic velour too. I love this!
2022 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Fontenys
Sandy soil here almost the only place in Gevrey – in the middle of Roty’s vines
Narrower but fine aromas – that’s a very engaging and inviting wine. Cool, growing wider as it melts over the palate, quite saline in the longer finish. For keeping a little while – but I like!!!
2022 Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Petits Monts
Recently sulfured (10 days)
High-toned elegant aromas that grow wider at the base – such a fine invitation. Hmm – that is more incisive yet has a very classy texture once more. There’s super depth to this with a little salinity framing the flavours too. I’d be keeping this for a while – 5+ years – but it could be excellent!
Parts over 100 years-old, mainly 80+
Here’s a much deeper aroma of simmering darker berries – almost blue-berry. Broad, wonderfully textured and cushioned but without fat – more velour than silk. Wide, textual finishing – almost tactile. That’s a great finish – a nose short of great today – but it has time!
Old vines at the bottom of the climat.
A smaller – but finely divided, almost granular complexity here – like all great VR! Supple – more silky than velour – but heading the way of velour as you go towards the finish. Broad, with wide layers of finishing flavour. Great density and shape – wait longer for the flavour(s) to open out – another potentially great one. To wait 5-10 years…
2022 Echézeaux
In Les Cruots ‘With very old 1917 vines – 70% the original vines. It’s capricious – it’s different every day!’
Not the widest – but what impressive depth and complexity of aroma – that’s really super! In the mouth we have some tannic grain – but über-fine. Broad, slightly cushioned, creamy-edged, complex fruit. This is simply excellent Echézeaux!!!
A nose that reminds a little of the Budots with darkly, simmering, fruit – but above there’s a layer of almost textured interest too. More direct, more strict structure – but cushioned so that there are no hard edges – there’s also a suggestion of fluidity to balance – this will make a great old bottle – if I had the time I’d be drinking it only after 25 years – your mileage (time expectations) may vary!