Richard Juhlin has tasted the new releases of the 2020 vintage by Nicolas Maillart. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Nicolas Maillart
★★★★
Nicolas Maillart started the family business at Chamery in 1720, before Lucien saw to it that the property ended up at Écueil. The present owner and wine-maker is the extremely well-educated Nicolas born in 1977 who makes sure of putting his Bordeaux knowledge to the best possible use for the wines in Champagne. Vinification is almost completely ecological and the average age of the vines is an impressive 30 years. He is most notable for having planted his vineyards en foule in 1973, that is in the prephyloxera manner. Apart from 3 hectares in Écueil he owns vineyards at Villers-Allerand and almost 4 hectar in Bouzy. 80% of the wines are fermented in oak barrels. Les Francs de Pied Vieilles Vignes comes from the old vines planted en foule that give massively rich grapes with masses of black fruit when one matures them in oak barrels and carries out sometimes and rarely batonnage and avoids malolactic fermentation. A mightily impressive wine with colossal, gigantic, modern power. Oaky, assuredly, but very rich in grapiness and deep dark fruit in a Selosse-like manner. Even better are the new series of lieu-dits Mont Martin, Jolivettes and Montchenot.
2020 Nicolas Maillart ‘Mont Martin’
94(94)p
100pm
TASTING NOTE RICHARD JUHLIN The world’s best wine made from Meunier? The Champagne Club elite gathered in March 2025 and tasted a sensationally magnificent quintet of Niciolas Maillart’s 2020 vineyard wines and we found the exercise to be one of the most interesting and intellectually rewarding wine tasting exercises of the year. The trio of grapes from Villers-Allerand had a common timbre, but also high individuality. Here pure Meunier without malo, with oak barrels, selection Massalle from 1970 and a dosage of 1 gram of sugar. Fascinatingly, the wine was actually even more impressive in its ultra-generous fruitiness than the Pinot Noir wine Les Auges from the same village in the first quarter. With time in the glass, some of the exotic multi-fruit aromatics disappeared and the stringency was not as dense as Les Auges which overtook on the finish line with better structure and storage capacity. Drink as soon as you can to capture its exuberant generosity.
2020 Nicolas Maillart ‘Les Ronsures’
95(95)p
100pn
TASTING NOTE RICHARD JUHLIN The Champagne Club elite gathered in March 2025 to sample a sensationally magnificent quintet of Niciolas Maillart’s 2020 vineyard wines and we found the exercise to be one of the most interesting and intellectually rewarding wine tasting exercises of the year. Here a new vineyard site in Bouzy planted in 1987. No dosage or malolactic fermentation. Of course 100% oak barrel aging. Similar to Jolivettes plated the same year in 1987 in the same village. After some hesitation, we thought that Jolivettes was slightly richer and that the freshness was a touch clearer in Les Ronsures. Drink now until 2028.
2020 Nicolas Maillart ‘Jolivettes’
95(95) p
100pn
TASTING NOTE RICHARD JUHLIN The Champagne Club elite gathered in March 2025 and tasted a sensationally magnificent quintet of Niciolas Maillart’s 2020 vineyard wines and we found the exercise to be one of the most interesting and intellectually rewarding wine tasting exercises of the year. The fine vineyard location in Bouzy in the Maillart style with oak barrels and selection Massalle without dosage this time. Very similar to Les Ronsures planted the same year in the same village. After some hesitation, we thought that Jolivettes was slightly richer and that the freshness was a touch clearer in Les Ronsures. Drink now until 2027.
2020 Nicolas Maillart ‘Les Auges’
95(95)p
100pn
TASTING NOTE RICHARD JUHLIN The Champagne Club elite gathered in March 2025 to sample a sensationally magnificent quintet of Niciolas Maillart’s 2020 vineyard wines and we found the exercise to be one of the most interesting and intellectually rewarding wine tasting exercises of the year. New vineyard wine in barrel and without dosage from the master Maillart in Villers Allerand planted in 1970. The champagne was long behind Mont Martin but finally overtook and opened up the famous peacock’s tail before the race was over. Higher acidity and denser structure, but perhaps slightly less pronounced exoticism. Drink now until 2028.
2020 Nicolas Maillart ‘Les Courzy Petit Meslier’
96(96)p
100p meslier
TASTING NOTE RICHARD JUHLIN Here we go again. The master of Petit Meslier has now vineyard-labeled the 2020 creation. No dosage, 100% barrel, selection Massalle of course. A couple of hundred bottles of world-class wine from an odd grape that here gives a style and class on par with Les Clos from Raveneau or Corton-Charlemagne from Louis Latour. The Champagne Club’s elite group gathered in March 2025 and tasted a sensationally magnificent quintet of Niciolas Maillart’s vineyard wines from 2020 and we found the exercise to be one of the most interesting and intellectually rewarding wine tasting exercises of the year. Personally, I had this odd bird as the winner despite the greatness of the reddish Pinot wines. The almost narcotically intense aroma of white truffle, popcorn, sesame, honeysuckle and freshly buttered corn is simply fantastic. The taste plays on the same theme with a slightly higher acidity than the other wines in the quintet and a supposedly longer life. Magnificent!
