Domaine Nicole Lamarche

Why we follow Domaine Nicole Lamarche

The estate

A Vosne-Romanée family with roots back to 1797, and one of the more striking quality stories in Burgundy over the last decade. François Lamarche ran the estate from 1985 until his death in 2013. His daughter Nicole took over the vines and the winemaking, with her cousin Nathalie handling the commercial side, and in 2018 she put her own name on the labels. Critics who had long regarded the domaine as underperforming its extraordinary vineyard holdings now talk about it in quite different terms.

The vineyards

Just over eleven hectares. The jewel is La Grande Rue, a grand cru monopole of 1.65 hectares that runs as a narrow ribbon some three hundred metres up the slope with La Tâche on one side and La Romanée, Romanée-Conti and Romanée-St-Vivant on the other. There is no better-placed piece of land in Burgundy. Clos de Vougeot, Échezeaux and Grands-Échezeaux complete the grand crus, with premier and village Vosne beneath them. Organic conversion began in 2010.

In the glass

Around thirty per cent whole clusters, which adds floral lift and refines the tannins, though La Grande Rue is fully destemmed in some years. Fermentation runs fifteen to eighteen days in open wooden vats, then sixteen to twenty months in oak, roughly half of it new, and the wines are bottled without fining or filtration. Yields on La Grande Rue are held very low. La Grande Rue is noble and chiselled and asks for about a decade. Wild strawberry, kirsch and a stony, insistent minerality. A point worth knowing: La Grande Rue was only promoted from premier cru to grand cru in 1992, and relative to the wines it borders it remains conspicuously underpriced.

With Lamont’s

Offered through the Private Cellar Selection, generally following the July release. Register your interest and we will contact you when the next allocation is confirmed.