Côtes de Nuits Villages Aux Faulques 2024 Domaine Jean-Marc Millot

The Côtes de Nuits Villages Aux Faulques 2024 from Domaine Jean-Marc Millot is one of the most convincing and surprising expressions of this communal appellation on the Côte de Nuits, often deserving of Premier Cru status given how its quality surpasses a simple village wine. These wines, once overlooked, now enjoy considerable recognition. An energetic and fresh wine with excellent ageing potential, expressing the full complexity of its chalky soil.

Terroir and vineyard

The Côtes de Nuits Villages appellation spans several communes: Corgoloin, Fixin, Brochon, Premeaux-Prissey and Comblanchien. The Aux Faulques parcel of Domaine Jean-Marc Millot sits in the latter, a 1.78-hectare plot on the heights of Comblanchien, directly facing the famous stone quarries and just 400 metres from Clos de l'Arlot. Les Faulques refers to the beech trees once planted where the vines now grow. This pure chalky terroir expresses remarkable geological complexity: the mineral character brings freshness, while the aromatic return is fruity and crisp. The vines are over 50 years old, planted on the clay-limestone soils typical of the Côte de Nuits. Viticulture is organic, uncertified, with limited yields. The 2024 vintage in Burgundy was marked by difficult climatic conditions, excessive rainfall and high disease pressure, yet Alix Millot's growing commitment to organic farming preserved quality despite reduced volumes. Vinification respects the fruit with minimal extraction and no additives, using only natural yeasts on the grapes. Ageing occurs in Burgundian oak for 14 months, with around 10 to 20 percent new wood depending on the vintage. The wine is neither fined nor filtered.

Tasting profile

The colour is ruby red, faithfully reflecting the terroir. The nose is fresh and layered, showing a varied range of red berries, plum, earth and soft floral notes, remarkable in complexity for this appellation. On the palate, medium-weight flavours are generously proportioned and blessed with fine energy, finishing with moderate structure, firm and serious, showing only a light trace of youthful austerity. The wine is energetic, with excellent ageing potential. The fruity, crisp aromatic return, driven by the dominant limestone minerality, offers a freshness and precision that often equals the complexity of far more prestigious villages.

The domaine

Domaine Jean-Marc Millot works around 8 hectares on the prestigious Côte de Nuits, with parcels in Bourgogne, Côtes de Nuits Villages, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Vosne-Romanée village and Premier Cru Les Suchots, plus three Grand Crus, Clos de Vougeot, Échézeaux and Grands Échézeaux. Created by Jean-Marc Millot's father, the domaine has been owned in Nuits-Saint-Georges since 1997 and is progressively being taken over by Alix, Jean-Marc's daughter, who began working alongside her father in 2014 and has been vinifying alone since 2016, continuing family values of terroir respect while drawing inspiration from the younger generation of vignerons.

Food and wine pairing

This Côtes de Nuits Villages Aux Faulques pairs beautifully with roasted poultry with wild mushrooms, rabbit with traditional mustard, country terrine, light beef burgundy or aged cheeses such as Époisses or Comté. Served between 15 and 16°C, it reveals all the mineral freshness, fruity energy and remarkable ageing potential of a Côtes de Nuits Villages that rivals many far more prestigious appellations, from one of Burgundy's most promising figures of the new generation.