Domaine De Bellene Crus 2020
After a two year hiatus in sourcing trips, Nicolas Potel's Domaine de Bellene was the first Burgundy producer we visited this year. This time the tasting wasn't in the charming 14th century cellars of his headquarters in Beaune. A winery fire had almost destroyed the whole place and but for the eagle eye of an insomniac elderly neighbour Beaune would've lost one of it's most remarkable cellars. It also meant that the fire was stopped in the vinification hall and no wine was exposed to heat or smoke. Regardless, the elevage was moved to his very-much-less-romantic facility in an Savigny le Beaune industrial park.
That's where we find ourselves for our first look at the 2020 vintage in Burgundy. As usual with Nico, the pace is frenentic, corks are being pulled out of bottles in double time and all the while he talks vintage, winemaking philosophy and the problems facing the region and the Burgundy market.
It all makes your head spin a bit but there's no mistaking the indelible first impression of his 2020 wines (an impression reinforced in every cellar we go after that). First and foremost the wines are deeply pitched with a dark core of fruit, sweet and powerful. But, just when you think it could be a one trick-pony vintage, there's this wonderful freshness and texture. This adds such unusual vividity to the wines, at once dark and rich but detailed and packed with energy. It's a deadly combination.
The explanation we later learn is that while the vintage was warm, the night time temperatures were cool so unlike other warm vintages the vines had a chance to recover overnight and these diurnal shifts meant acidities and freshness were maintained.
You know the Bellene story well, it includes organic and biodynamic viticulture and always old vines. In the cellars, subtle changes I wrote about last year whereby Potel has decided to back off on pigeage to extract less tannin as he recognises there's less need as he (and the region) has more ripe fruit than in days gone by. Instead he's aiming for a more demure style adding textural light and shade with more whole bunch work. He's also employed a consultant to give him a more "removed" view of what they're doing in the cellars. He told me that in 2020 a couple of very small suggestions had delivered surprising results for him. I guess you never stop learning.
So, to the wines. My impressions.
Cotes de Nuits Villages - from a plot in Comblacien. Always punches well above it's weight and this year's version is one of the best I've seen in years.
Volnay VV - From some of his retained vineyards in the Pousse d'Or days. Blue fruited, violets, detailed and lovely. Some muscle on the backend.
Nuits St Georges - I've said it before, this is almost his best wine pound-for-pound. Full of the wonderfully expressive muscular nature of the commune.
Savigny Les Beaune Rouge Hommage Jean Ferte 1er 2020 - Spice, florals and chlaky finish. Very fresh and energetic. Lovely wine.
Vosne Romanee Quartiers de Nuits - As ever, this aint no village wine. Surrounded by Grand Crus this plots is an outlier, Vosne Romanee kirsch, Asian spice and svelte texture.
Beaune Greves 1er - 114 year old plot. The notional Grand Cru of Beaune commune. Creamy texture, earth and brown spice. Long and delicious wine.
NSG Chaignots 1er - This cru is hard up against the Vosne border. It shows, as it splices dark cherry fruit with mineral earthiness and a more muscular tannins porfile. Best one for years.
Vosne Suchots 1er - This always strikes me as the special child with some reverence afforded to its Vosne 1er origins. A touch more new oak frames the kirsch fruit. It's very Vosne but on the more elegant side of things. Lovely Burgundy.
As is the usual practice for our many, many long time devotees of Nicolas' wines, we like to give you the first and least expensive opportunity to grab your usual allocation. It's my way of thanking you for you support of his wines for the now nearly 20 years we have been importing them. They are very late this year as Nicolas elected to bottle his main crus much later than usual. As always they represent some of the best value Burgundy buying on the Cote and in 2020 Potel has told Burghound (and us) called it a great year that produced wines that will live for decades.
That's where we find ourselves for our first look at the 2020 vintage in Burgundy. As usual with Nico, the pace is frenentic, corks are being pulled out of bottles in double time and all the while he talks vintage, winemaking philosophy and the problems facing the region and the Burgundy market.
It all makes your head spin a bit but there's no mistaking the indelible first impression of his 2020 wines (an impression reinforced in every cellar we go after that). First and foremost the wines are deeply pitched with a dark core of fruit, sweet and powerful. But, just when you think it could be a one trick-pony vintage, there's this wonderful freshness and texture. This adds such unusual vividity to the wines, at once dark and rich but detailed and packed with energy. It's a deadly combination.
The explanation we later learn is that while the vintage was warm, the night time temperatures were cool so unlike other warm vintages the vines had a chance to recover overnight and these diurnal shifts meant acidities and freshness were maintained.
You know the Bellene story well, it includes organic and biodynamic viticulture and always old vines. In the cellars, subtle changes I wrote about last year whereby Potel has decided to back off on pigeage to extract less tannin as he recognises there's less need as he (and the region) has more ripe fruit than in days gone by. Instead he's aiming for a more demure style adding textural light and shade with more whole bunch work. He's also employed a consultant to give him a more "removed" view of what they're doing in the cellars. He told me that in 2020 a couple of very small suggestions had delivered surprising results for him. I guess you never stop learning.
So, to the wines. My impressions.
Cotes de Nuits Villages - from a plot in Comblacien. Always punches well above it's weight and this year's version is one of the best I've seen in years.
Volnay VV - From some of his retained vineyards in the Pousse d'Or days. Blue fruited, violets, detailed and lovely. Some muscle on the backend.
Nuits St Georges - I've said it before, this is almost his best wine pound-for-pound. Full of the wonderfully expressive muscular nature of the commune.
Savigny Les Beaune Rouge Hommage Jean Ferte 1er 2020 - Spice, florals and chlaky finish. Very fresh and energetic. Lovely wine.
Vosne Romanee Quartiers de Nuits - As ever, this aint no village wine. Surrounded by Grand Crus this plots is an outlier, Vosne Romanee kirsch, Asian spice and svelte texture.
Beaune Greves 1er - 114 year old plot. The notional Grand Cru of Beaune commune. Creamy texture, earth and brown spice. Long and delicious wine.
NSG Chaignots 1er - This cru is hard up against the Vosne border. It shows, as it splices dark cherry fruit with mineral earthiness and a more muscular tannins porfile. Best one for years.
Vosne Suchots 1er - This always strikes me as the special child with some reverence afforded to its Vosne 1er origins. A touch more new oak frames the kirsch fruit. It's very Vosne but on the more elegant side of things. Lovely Burgundy.
As is the usual practice for our many, many long time devotees of Nicolas' wines, we like to give you the first and least expensive opportunity to grab your usual allocation. It's my way of thanking you for you support of his wines for the now nearly 20 years we have been importing them. They are very late this year as Nicolas elected to bottle his main crus much later than usual. As always they represent some of the best value Burgundy buying on the Cote and in 2020 Potel has told Burghound (and us) called it a great year that produced wines that will live for decades.
-
Domaine de Bellene Volnay Les Grands Poisots 2020Wow, what a lovely aroma of raspberry and dark cherry fruit laid over a faintly stoney backbeat and gorgeous blue florals of violets. The palate is full and ripe but nuanced and full of energy. Intensity of flavour without heft. I love the limestone drying quality in this wine and the mouth aromas that mark it as a Volnay through and through. Tannins are well managed and covered by the fruit. I love this. MICHAEL MCNAMARA, PWS
Ripe aromas of both red and dark berry fruit enjoy pretty floral top notes. There is again very good energy to the solidly dense and voluminous flavors that are at once generous yet grippy and rustic on the firm finish. While better balanced than the St. Romain, I suspect that this will always have a bit of a tannic edge to it. BURGHOUND2020Pinot noirFrance358$130.00 As low as $117.00 -
Domaine de Bellene Nuits St Georges Chaignots 1er 2020Step up again here. While Chaignots is in Nuits St Georges, it hugs the boundary of Vosne Romanee and so much of this wine presents the best of both those communes. Turned earth, background wood and red into blue fruits vie frame a lovely opening aromatic. The palate is rich and supple but there's also a lively vein running through it making stand up across the palate - suppleness and energy a great combination. Lingering fine, silty tannins draw a boundary around the red fruit and wood spice. It's full of life this wine. Great drinking but also there's loads of background structure tucked in behind the fruit to make it an excellent cellaring proposition. MICHAEL MCNAMARA, PWS2020Pinot noirFrance358$320.00 As low as $288.00