Cote de Nuits-Villages Excellence with Antoine Lienhardt and Jean-Marc Millot
2/17/2025
Amongst the villages in the Cote d’Or, one that is often overlooked is the Cote de Nuits-Villages. The vineyards that lie at the north (Brochon and Fixin bordering Gevrey-Chambertin) and southern points of the Cote de Nuits (Comblanchien, Corgolin, and Premeux bordering Nuits-Saint-Georges). The winemakers highlighted today, Antoine Lienhard and Alix Millot of Domaine Jean-Marc Millot are making their wines from the Cote de Nuits-Villages with the same care, attention, and respect as they would/do with Grand Cru vineyards. This mentality has caused the wines available today to showcase some incredible value. We are very excited to showcase these two fantastic Domaines that have made wines of incredible integrity, concentration, and flavor.
[Antoine Lienhardt (Photo: Polaner)]
Antoine Lienhardt has had a green thumb since he was a child begging his grandmother to let him take over a section of her garden to plant his own plants and vegetables. Fast forward to 2011 when he took over the 4.2 hectares of family vines from Comblanchien that his grandfather planted in the 1960’s. Before inheriting vines Antoine spent four years working at Domaine Amiot-Servelle (a Chambers St. Favorite and leader in biodynamic farming in Chambolle) as well as in Chablis and a short stint in South Africa. Now over a decade of making his own wines, Antoine has become the first in his family to make wines (previously the vines were leased out). Today he works alongside his sister Héloise who handles all administrative duties in the domaine. Antoine began conversion to organic farming in 2016 and is now farming biodynamically, he says, “Our approach to winemaking is to intervene as little as possible with the vines natural growth, and practice original craft traditions.” In addition to precise farming, Antoine talks of how he treats his vineyards and makes wines as if they were Grand Cru sites, finding the terroirs of Comblanchien to be completely undervalued. Antoine’s goal is to make wines that maintain energy and vibrancy, that can age. He advises drinkers to decant his wines when young but believes there’s a beautiful evolution for 20 years!
[Alix Millot (Photo: Skurnik)]
Jean-Marc Millot had been growing grapes and estate bottling since 1992, boasting an incredible lineup of vineyards, including three Grand Crus, vines within Nuits-St-Georges, Vosne-Romanee and more. In 2000 he stopped the use of all pesticides. With some of the best real estate in the world, the wines followed suit. In 2014, Jean-Marc’s daughter, Alix began working alongside him in the vineyards and cellar. In 2016, she made her first vintage on her own and just two years later, Alix made the change to farm organically (without certification) and the wines have been improving ever since. Not all vignerons are lucky enough to have Grand Cru vineyards, but those that do, and treat their less proclaimed vineyards with the same farming, care, and respect as Premier and Grand Cru vineyards always provide a treat (and value) when it comes to their "entry level" wines. Aside from percentages of new oak and a few changes vineyard to vineyard with destemming, the humble Bourgogne Rouge and Cote de Nuits-Villages wines are handled the same way as her Echezeaux! Alix’s wines are friendly, approachable, and can easily be enjoyed now.
