It’s a frightening thought that 2021 represents Maxime Cheurlin’s 12th vintage in charge at Domaine Georges Noëllat in Vosne-Romanée and he only turned 30 last year! Before his arrival, his grandmother had been running the domaine but selling off the fruit to the likes of Jadot and Drouhin. However, the lure of running his own illustrious domaine in the heart of the Côte de Nuits was impossible to ignore, and Maxime did not hesitate in leaving Champagne, where part of the family is heavily involved in producing fizz, to set up home among the greatest vineyards in the world.
The domaine was, and still is, blessed with many old vines, a large number of which are around 100 years old, and it didn’t take long for Maxime to establish himself as the exciting ‘new kid on the block’. With demand for his wines far out-stripping supply, Maxime began supplementing his domaine offerings with some negotiant wines under his own name.
Many of the other new wines came from fruit from a domaine that Maxime was hoping to buy subsequently, but, sadly, he was outbid, so it may be that some of these wines will not be made in the future.
As was the case pretty much everywhere in Burgundy, 2021 was small vintage for Maxime, although like most domaines in the Côte de Nuits, Maxime did not suffer as much as some of his peers in the Côte de Beaune! Having said that, allocations are well down, so we’ll have to ration volumes of certain wines quite heavily. These 2021s will be shipped before Christmas this year