I love old Burgundies – so I was very happy to have the opportunity to taste the rare Charles Noëllat Vosne-Romanée Beaumonts 1967 that my good friend brought to our dinner this week.

The Charles Noëllat bottle is labelled Vosne-Romanée Les Beaumonts, but please note that there are variations, as Domaine Leroy and most others today use the more correct term “Les Beaux Monts”.

It was an exciting wine – and actually, I think it was my first wine from this estate in the estate’s prime. It was a chance to evaluate the style and quality, at a glimpse at least.

Domaine Charles Noëllat

Charles Noëllat was one of the legendary estates in Vosne-Romanée in the period from around the beginning of the 20th century up to 1988, spanning almost 100 years and owning very important vineyards like Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Richebourg and Les Beaux Monts.

The Charles Noëllat was sold and divided in 1988 when Mme Bize-Leroy acquired a large part of the estate and created Domaine Leroy.

The rest of the Charles Noëllat estate was then divided among the numerous parts of the Noëllat family … Hudelot-Noellat, Georges Noellat, J,J. Confuron and later, a big plot of Les Beaux Monts ended up with Cécile Tremblay in recent years.

The Charles Noëllat Beaumonts

Domaine Charles Noëllat was one of the very big owners of Les Beaux Monts, owning a big part of the vineyard … including the current Leroy plots, that came from the Charles Noëllat estate in 1988.

The origin of the Charles Noëllat estate was another historic Vosne estate, Gaudemet-Chanut, which existed until 1925 and was an offspring of the large Chanut estate, which had a dominant role in Vosne in the 19th century.

Charles Noëllat apparently tended the Gaudemet-Chanut vineyards, including Les Beaux Monts, Richebourg, and Romanée-Saint-Vivant. In 1925, the Gaudemet-Chanut estate was sold off, and Charles Noëllat acquired the estate.

See the full story about the Chanut and Gaudemet-Chanut estates here …

Back to 1967 …

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The Wine

Charles Noëllat Vosne-Romanée Les Beaumonts 1967

Domaine Charles Noëllat had its ups and downs, but the vineyards have always been considered to be top-end, as a lot of them were planted back in the late 1920s when Charles Noëllat took over the vineyards.

The core of the Charles Noëllat Les Beaux Monts was the current Domaine Leroy Beaux-Monts – 2.61 ha. located in the lower end of Les Beaux Monts vineyard within the Vosne-Romanée appellation, just above Les Suchots. Please note there is also a part of Beaux Monts in Flagey-Echezeaux.

1967 is a medium vintage … fruity and quite forward, and the best of them are still tasting well. In general, Charles Noëllat had a good reputation in the 1960s … so expectations were good.

The 1967 Beaumonts from Charles Noellat is still a sensual beauty. It requires 2 – 3 hours to unfold completely with sous bois, Asian spices and delicate red forest fruits. Not a big wine, not a great wine, but such a delight. After 2-3 hours, a lovely sweet fruit note brightens up the wine further and gives the wine a lovely energy. A lovely fresh old wine.

(Drink Now) – Fine – (92p) –