Nicolas Morin

Maison Nicolas Morin is a small négociant house in Nuits-Saint-Georges. He farms three hectares of his own at Mâlain and buys the rest of his fruit from growers across the Côte.

Morin learned the trade in other people's vineyards and cellars. The Guide Hachette credits him with twelve years of experience before he set up his négoce in 2014, among them as vineyard manager and cellar head at Burgundy domaines, and in the Médoc, South Africa and Australia. Marée Haute, a French merchant, adds that he began as a cooper in Bordeaux. Sources differ on where he is from: Marée Haute says the Vosges, the Hong Kong merchant Ginsberg+Chan says Champagne. Ginsberg+Chan also say he still makes his own barrels.

His first vintage, 2014, included a Santenay En Saint-Jean, a Marsannay Les Genelières and a Nuits-Saint-Georges, all reviewed in the Guide Hachette's 2018 edition. In 2019, according to Marée Haute, he took over the vines at Mâlain, half an hour from Dijon. For the rest he buys grapes and musts, preferably from organic and biodynamic growers by the accounts of Hachette and Marée Haute, and Ginsberg+Chan say the arrangement lets him set the picking dates himself.

In the cellar the wine moves by gravity rather than pump. Ginsberg+Chan describe whole bunches used according to the vintage, occasional semi-carbonic fermentation, gentle foot treading and little sulphur. His 2023 Pernand-Vergelesses and Terres Blanches were both bottled unfiltered, on dates set by the lunar calendar. The range runs from Hautes-Côtes de Nuits and Bourgogne through Marsannay, Beaune, Monthélie, Pernand-Vergelesses, Santenay and Meursault to Nuits-Saint-Georges, including a premier cru Pinot Blanc from Les Terres Blanches. Some cuvées run to a single barrel.