Terroir View: Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat Vosne Aux Malconsorts

One of the most acclaimed 1er crus made in Vosne-Romanee is the Aux Malconsorts.

The quality of the Hudelot-Noëllat wines has improved rapidly over the last dacade, and with Charles van Canneyt in charge I do find the Malconsort worth looking for and an item of collection.

The Aux Malconsorts is one of the top end wines in the Hudelot-Noëllat portfolio, although the Richebourg, the Romanée Saint-Vivant and Clos de Vougeot are considered more prominent and as such better.

So lets take a closer look at the terrior behind the Hudelot-Noëllat Aux Malconsorts.

Wine and people

The Hudelot family have been in Chambolle since before the Revolution yet the current Hudelot-Noëllat estate is somewhat younger.

Hudelot-Noëllat was founded in 1962 by Alain Hudelot, and the estate today has 10 hectares spread over 4 villages and 15 appellations.

Alain Hudelot was in 1963 married to Odile Noëllat ₄ – the granddaughter of Charles Noëllat. Although his wife had a quite large heritage within the Charles Noëllat estate, it was going to take years before the heritage was released. All this is history now, and in the end Hudelot-Noëllat got it’s share when the rest of the Charles Noëllat was sold to Mme Bize-Leroy in 1988.

The Hudelot-Noëllat estate is now managed by his grandson, Charles van Canneyt, who took over in 2008 and has taken the quality to new levels.

While the estate is a bit more than 50 years old – inheritance and acquiring vineyards has brought both prominent and old vineyards to the estate.

So the vineyards are a mixture of Charles Noëllat heritage and vineyards acquired over the years.

Early history of Vosne-Romanee Malconsorts

Some sources indicate that the Les Malconsorts vineyard was established relatively late – as it was transformed from scrubland to vineyard in 1610⁷. According to the Burgundian etymologist Marie-Hélène Landrieu-Lussigny the name Mal-consorts refers to “a patch of ground covered with thorny brush that is difficult to clear”⁶. There is however also, according to Allen Meadows, evidence that a part of Malconsorts was established already in 1482 …