2019 Beaune Les Teurons 1er Cru

Nicolas Potel is a different man to the one I last met three years ago. I have known Potel since my early career, his large personality impossible to ignore on the London Burgundy tasting circuit every January. In October 2020, I encountered a “re-booted” Potel. As he said so himself, he had clearly shed a few pounds and had “colour in your cheeks” as the saying goes. I was unsurprised when he told me later that he is drinking less wine, eating better and working out. Good for him. His legendary father Gérard Potel passed away too early, and he does not wish the same fate. Also, his mother recently died, and this obviously had a profound impact. A cuvée named in her honour is included in this report. These events have clearly refocused his perspective and he is looking towards the future and the legacy that will be passed on to his children. Both son and daughter are now studying to enter the wine industry. “It will be her you’ll be seeing when I retire,” Potel mentions, nodding to his daughter Antonia. He is also reconfiguring his enterprise that currently comprises a négociant and Domaine side, Maison and Domaine de Bellene, with a conscious shift towards the latter.

“The winery has now moved to Savigny-lès-Beaune,” he explained. “I am hoping to buy some vineyard land in Beaune and Pommard and planning to build a completely sustainable winery with grass on the roof, its own water reservoir, wooden construction and so on. My brother is an architect, which is handy. At the moment I own about 25 hectares with a lot of Côte de Nuits Village, a lot in Saint-Romain where I will become the largest owner starting from next year with approximately 12% of the appellation. I believe in Saint-Romain as the future will be high [altitude] vineyards, given global warming.”

“The Maison de Bellene wines will be bottled late next year,” Potel told me in reference to the fifty 2019s I tasted. “There is no new oak for the Pommard and Volnay Village Crus. Whole bunches, around 80%, is used for the Village Crus and a maximum 10% new oak. The Grand Crus are matured with 50% whole bunches with a long élevage. The pH is not very high on the whites, but they have salinity. We have not had a lot of malic in recent years as the sun burns it away. The whites were easy to pick and underwent a long press. The alcohol levels on the whites are 13.2° to 14.5°, the Grand Crus are above 14.0° and it is around the same of the reds. I had to do a bit of acidification for those. The reds were a small crop with not too many tannins but a lot of colour. They took time to finish fermenting and they were more complicated to vinify than 2018 and 2020. All the domaine wines are 100% whole bunches. All of them except the Premier Crus will be racked in November and bottled in December. Everything will be moved to the new winery in Savigny except the élevage for the reds."

I detected a shift in style with the reds that I found imbued with more finesse and terroir expression than I expected, a positive progression and asked Potel about recent changes. “We changed things from 2017. The tanks are now closed, and we do less pigeage. We no longer use pumps and use buckets instead and also practice longer fermentations. I like the tannins to be softer at the end.” This revised modus operandi has yielded some real gems that do not necessarily cluster at the higher end of the portfolio, such as the superb Pommard Les Vignots that dares outclass some of the Premier Crus. Readers should scan Potel’s 2019s carefully because there is a cluster of excellent wines from some of the region’s finest appellations, but also many that I suspect will represent great value. Onwards and upwards for Potel.