i. Biography
From a family established in Auxey-Duresses since 1650 to a cellar now shared with his father, Gilles Lafouge, Maxime Lafouge’s arc runs through Domaine Lafouge in Auxey-Duresses, France. He works as a winemaker beside Gilles, described as the sixth generation at the estate, carrying a multi-generation line into bottles shaped by old vines, hand harvests and exacting cellar choices.
Beginnings
The beginning is the family estate. Maxime is part of the Lafouge family’s multi-generation holding in Auxey-Duresses, where the line reaches back to 1650 and where the current work is shared father to son. That inheritance is not presented as a museum piece. Gilles and Maxime work side by side today, a practical arrangement in which continuity is measured in vineyard work, picking decisions and the handling of fruit once it reaches the cellar. His career history runs through one name: Domaine Lafouge. Rather than a path built across a list of employers, the biographical line is rooted in the same estate that connects the family name, the village and the wines.
The Rise
The next turn is in the style of the bottles. The domaine’s wines are described as organic, hand-harvested and terroir-driven, with selective whole clusters used in some reds. That approach shows in the handling of the 2022 reds. They were bottled unfiltered and unfined in December 2023, a choice made to preserve lively precision rather than polish away texture. The estate’s range also gives Maxime a broad set of sites to interpret. It includes premier-cru vineyards with old vines in Auxey-Duresses, small parcels in Meursault, and old-vine plots in Pommard, including 1er Cru Les Chanlins. Among the named wines attached to this chapter is Domaine Lafouge Meursault Clos Rougeot 2022. Another is Auxey-Duresses 1er Cru La Chapelle 2024, described as still young and already precise when tasted with Maxime.
Today
The present tense of his work remains collaborative: Maxime is a winemaker working with his father Gilles at the family domaine in Auxey-Duresses, France. The role places him inside a long family sequence while keeping the focus on current vintages and the decisions that define them. In 2023, John Gilman described the domaine’s whites as showing purity, cut, minerality and raciness. He described the reds from that year as having structures for long aging, purity of fruit and balance. Taken together, the picture is precise rather than sprawling: an old family address, a father-and-son cellar, organic and hand-harvested wines, and a set of vineyards that moves from Auxey-Duresses to Meursault and Pommard. For Maxime, the journey does not depend on leaving the estate; it gathers force by going deeper into it.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Maxime
Where did Maxime Lafouge begin their career?
He began at Domaine Lafouge in Auxey-Duresses, France, within the Lafouge family’s multi-generation estate.
What roles has Maxime Lafouge held?
He has worked as a winemaker at the family domaine, side by side with his father Gilles Lafouge.
What is Maxime Lafouge doing now?
He works as a winemaker with his father Gilles at the Lafouge family estate in Auxey-Duresses, France.
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