Michel Noellat - Echezeaux 2018

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Michel Noellat Description

Domaine Michel Noëllat & Fils sits just away from the Mairie of Vosne-Romanée in Rue de la Fontaine, its close neighbour is Domaine Leroy. Hardly the most famous name in the village, yet this Domaine extends to 27 hectares (and there is a little négoce wine for export too) with vines distributed all the way from Marsannay to Pommard – they list 23 different appellations in their cellar – though just two white wines.

Brothers Alain and Jean-Marc Noëllat are the 5th generation of the family responsible for the domaine – the eponymous Michel was their father (d.1989). Today, more and more exposure is being given to Sophie and her cousin Sébastian (the 6th generation); Sophie is Alain’s daughter, and is taking on the commercial work, whilst Sébastian (Jean-Marc’s son) is, since 2008, more involved in the vineyards and winery. Cousins of the Noëllat-Barthods of Chambolle, this large domaine (10 employees plus 3 tâcherons) remains relatively unknown Outside of France, mainly because only about 10% of the domaine’s production is exported, they also still a significant volume to the négoce of Beaune.

The domaine’s production is essentially split into two working parts; there is the new (since 2009) cuverie next to the RN74 in Vosne and the barrel cellar in Rue de la Fontaine. The new cuverie receives the grapes for sorting and lines rows of shiny, temperature-controlled, stainless-steel fermentation tanks – previously this was mainly done in concrete tanks. The barrel-cellar is back under the (relatively modern looking) house in Rue de la Fontaine, here the wine is aged before returning it to the new cuverie for assemblage and bottling.

Of vines and wines…

The work in the vineyards is ‘raisonée’, avoiding insecticides and herbicides. The harvested grapes are 100% destemmed before a short period of cool maceration and 18-20 days of fermentation – both pigeage and remontage are used but in each case, is chosen depending on the raw materials at hand.

Barrel-aging lasts 14-16 months. Oak use is relatively modest here, even the grand-crus tend to receive only 50-60% – though Alain concedes that more was used in 2012 because yields were lower – and they’d already bought the barrels! Those barrels are a mix from 4 different tonellières, choosing oak from both Tronçais and Alliers, but only with a medium toast. The wines are only racked once, just before bottling when they are assembled.

burgundy-report.com