Tasted in Meursault with, standing to attention, Charles Nebout & Jean-Luc Vitoux, 16 November 2020
Domaine Belleville
71150 Rully
Tel: +33 3 85 91 06 00
www.domainebelleville.com
More reports for Domaine de Belleville & Château Commaraine
Charles on 2020:
“The harvest was quite small for the reds – no frost it was the dryness – and we had thinned out the grapes too so there was, in the end, less to be dried by the sun! We harvested everything in 8 days – the maturities were all very similar for us.”
Charles on 2019:
“Frost; not big harvest due to that, the season was good following that and no problems with maladies – but 30 hl/ha for both white and red – impressive maturities, though. We are really asking ourselves what we can do as we start to expect drier summers and to retain still the freshness in our wines. The vines were greener after our harvest than they were at harvest time. Correct balance and good acidity – red and white – but the volumes are much lower than in 2018 that’s for sure. We didn’t change our approach with barrels and the wines fermented to dry. ”
The wines…
A very good vintage here – excellent for whites – and versus the 2018 I see much more finesse and clarity in the Pommard Clos de la Commaraine too.
These bottled in August:
2019 Rully Chaponnières
A pretty nose – airy red fruit but also of depth. Wide – growing in volume – easy with a modest base of tannin. Hmm – that’s a really impressive finishing flavour – tons of depth… 10% wc used here. Notes of stone fruit in the finish, in fact, I love this finish – excellent villages wine.
2019 Mercurey Champs Ladoy
Also a deep nose but here darker-fruited. More depth to the flavour – more width to that flavour too. Extra finishing complexity of bitters. But in terms of deliciousness, I prefer the Rully despite the rather facile start to that wine.
2019 Rully 1er Chapitre
A more vibrant darker fruit that slowly adds a little floral interest. A little extra attack, width of more complex, faintly saline accented flavour. Very mouth-watering – faintly oaky bitters in the finish, but this has a lot of character. Very good…
2019 Mercurey 1er Clos Eveque
The most open, floral and interesting. Good attack and lots of freshness – I like the insinuating intensity of the flavour – oaky/saline finishing – this and the last certainly beg some patience in the cellar.
2019 Santenay Les Hâtes
A little more ample red fruit but still holding a certain tension. There’s a more obvious oak character to the flavours, mouth-watering and deliciously long though – again for patience but the start and finish are very nice – wait for the middle…
2019 Gevrey-Chambertin Creux Brouillard
A larger nose – wide and perfumed – that’s very nice indeed. Mouth-filling, a certain tension with lovely acidity. The depth of flavour here is super, but again a wine to wait for – lip-smacking depth to the finishing flavour with some bitters.
2019 Pommard 1er Clos de la Commaraine
“Reputed for elegance so we are still working in that direction – 8 sub-parcels all with separate elevage, eventually selecting barrels for the final cuvée – there’s just a little more than in 2018 – by selection, but to be bottled probably later in January.”
Hmm – that’s a lovely nose – bright, open, complex – characterful. Last year, at this stage, I thought the 18 lacked a little energy – that’s certainly not the case for this wine – there’s a framework – indeed a frame of tannin but almost no grain. Open, lots of flavour complexity and a higher level of precision vs the 2018 at the same stage – this will be excellent!
Les Blancs
All with natural cork, now no-longer treated – so browner – but they are testing a range of options including DIAM:
A big, open nose – there’s some power of citrus fruit here. A little reduction but also a big concentration of citrus fruit – just like the nose. The finish is slightly mineral and completely delicious – despite that reduction clinging on. Excellent wine – perhaps even a great villages if the reduction properly fades.
Hmm – that’s another super nose – wider, more mineral. In the mouth too – much more mineral in style – a little richness that’s cut by the acidity. More direct, beautifully finishing. The Rully is the more friendly wine today, but the Mercurey will probably overtake it in 2-3 years…
2019 Rully 1er La Fosse
Bottom of the hill.
A very attractive, quite floral nose. A little gas. Clean – open, nicely precise flavour, growing in intensity. Really an impressive finish – more impressive than delicious today, but give it a couple of years and you will be happy – this will be a lovely wine.
2019 Rully 1er Pucelles
This a tank sample
The best nose so far – deep, fine citrus, minerals – yes! A touch of gas but also a bubbling personality to this wine. I love the mouth-watering, almost juicy style to the middle and finishing flavours. A lick of the 2019 tannin to finish too.
2019 Rully 1er Rabourcé
Yes – even a little better – these aromas deeply mineral and suggesting an agrume reduction. More open, more intense at the same time. This holds a fine finishing line of mouth-watering flavour. The finish of that Pucelle has more action but in totality, this will probably overtake the wine in time.