Wine Advisor
Alain Hudelot Noellat, Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2021
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
The 2021 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru will also merit a bit of patience. Unfurling to reveal aromas of wild berries, smoked duck, sweet spices, petals and orange rind, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and impressively concentrated, with powdery, youthfully firm tannins and lively acids.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2021 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru comes across a little smudged on the nose with raspberry and strawberry fruit and touches of rose petal and peony. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly rigid tannins. Moderate depth, plenty of sour cherry and bell pepper notes, though I feel that the finish here is undernourished. This is well below the quality that was implied from barrel. Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting.
About the Producer
In 1962, Alain inherited two small parcels of his father's Chambolle-Musigny Grand Cru Les Chames, plus several vineyards from his marriage to the great-granddaughter of Charles Noellat, a Vosne-Romanee winery family, and he established Domaine Alain Hudelot Noellat. The winery is now about 10 hectares (24 hectares) in size. The estate now has about 10 hectares (24 acres) of vineyards with an average age of over 50 years, including several dating back to 1920, including the vineyard at Romanée-Saint-Vivant. The winery is known for its lighter wines with nuanced and natural flavors. Now managed by third-generation grandson Charles van Canneyts, Hudelot-Nollat is not so different from its grandfather's time, when it was less visible in the thicker wines, but now it has the advantage of refinement, often with fresh, bright fruit, balanced acidity and silky tannins. The vinification is entirely de-stemmed, using local yeasts that are not comparable to artificial yeasts, with a relatively long pre-fermentation cold soak, mainly with trampled skins, and 18 months in new barrels at 20-60%. In 2012, Charles also started to buy grapes from other winegrowers under his own name to make his wine. Vosne-Romanee is a blend of three first growths, Suchots, Beaumonts and Malconsorts, and as young as it is, the Hudelot-Noellat family owns three first growths that are over 100 years old, so this VR is ostensibly a village wine, but with a first growth heritage. Jasper Morris MW has high praise for Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat. He believes that while Alain Hudelot's management has produced fine style reds, Charles van Canneyt has taken over and given the wines more concentration and backbone, retaining their elegance, but with more ageing potential and balance.
