I’d brought a bottle of this for us to enjoy as a mark of Nicolas’s first production vintage under his own name (the few 1996s were bottlings of finished wine). Sadly it had some cork-related taint. I didn’t spot while tasting those wines above that Nicolas had arranged to get a replacement from his own stock. ”What a baby!’ was his reaction when he sniffed it. I found good freshness to the aromas; some earth, herbs and a dark fruit component. Lots of width and a good texture. A wine to savour, and yes, still a baby!
Potel Nicolas
2006 Potel Nicolas Criots Bâtard-Montrachet
1998 Potel Nicolas Romanée Saint-Vivant
Double-decanted, poured after an hour. Plenty of lumpy sediment but no fine stuff to cloud things. The nose needs another 30 minutes to open, but it becomes wide and very Vosne; spicy, leafy, somehow ‘warm’ and textured smelling – overall it’s very good though not necessarily better than a (very) good 1er cru. The acidity is slightly forward – though not excessive – no harsh or astringent tannin, just a latent velvet edge. The flavours are a little tart but there’s a slowly deepening intensity in the mid-palate and a width that’s faintly cream-edged. Very good, if not great length. There is no primary fruit here, but it’s a wine that I would leave for at least another 5 or 6 in the cellar. It’s a reasonable grand cru, but today it’s far from a great RSV. This experience was not spoiled by the cork, only by opening the bottle at least 5 years too early…
2007 Potel Nicolas Latricières-Chambertin
2007 Potel Nicolas Charmes-Chambertin
2007 Potel Nicolas Bonnes-Mares
The aromas are tighter, good depth but little else to start with. Mouth-filling, certainly not the brutality of the 2005, but there remains concentration and quite some intensity in equal measure – very well balanced though. Dark flavours that finish rather long. Eventually the nose develops a toffee-edged red fruit note.
2006 Potel Nicolas Criots Bâtard-Montrachet
The best young white I tasted last year, indeed in the last couple of years – expecations were positioned! Pale yellow. The aromas are very tight – the wine was too ambitiously cooled given the 30° temperatures. Some fat, but balanced and with a width on the mid-palate and finishing length that was on another level to the Caillerets – yet disappointing. Okay, if it’s too cold, I’ll encourage it to warm and open by decanting. As it warmed it put on weight, but no sign of the palate staining flavours of last year. Eventually a faint but unmistakable note appeared on the nose – cork. We actually drank it all, as it was still a better wine than the Caillerets, but what should have been a resounding bottle was merely a sombre one – bugger!
2007 Potel Nicolas Echézeaux
2007 Potel Nicolas Grands-Echézeaux
10% stems here. More aromatic width but less depth versus the Echézeaux, but the complexity is on a higher level and there’s a faint muskiness. Fills the mouth with pure, ripe fruit then a super mid-palate burst. Last thoughts are a hint of astringency that’s long forgotten as the flavour eventually fades – super.