1996 Leroy (Maison) Bourgogne Rouge
I bought a case of this in ’98 and that first bottle majored on mouth-puckering acidity; time has worked a little magic. Medium ruby red. The nose is a mix sweet red cherry and not too heavy plum. Nicely textured, this is elegant, again nicely plummy red fruit with very good but certainly not overstated acidity. The finish is understated and interesting. The table finished this bottle in double-quick time! There’s lots of life left in these bottles.
Rebuy – Yes

These wine all tasted in their last week or two in barrel. Xavier Meyney (NP business manager) was was a little disappointed how the wines were showing from barrel – saying that we were out of phase with the moon – despite his disappointment, these wines did little to hide their apparent quality. We started with a good quartet of Nuits – the last was a real cracker – it may be a little dull, but there’s little here I wouldn’t buy:
2005 Nicolas Potel, Nuits St.Georges 1er Pruliers
A tight nose with an undercurrent of bright red fruit. Powerful but with fine tannins and super intense mid-palate. There is just a little oak-derived bitterness on the long finish, but this will quickly fade. Sauve and accomplished for a Nuits
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Nuits St.Georges 1er Murgers
This vineyard sits close to ‘Richemone’ from 45 year-old vines. Much more ebullient nose, just an edge of malo to be found but this is wide and interesting. Also very fine tannin and intense concentration. It’s hard to hold in the mouth and has super acidity. Just a little oak-derived texture on the good finish. A wine that impresses.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Nuits St.Georges 1er Damodes
A dense nose that still shows a little malo and just a little reduction too – it starts deep and tight, but slowly widens. The palate is well delineated and a little mineral. Good acidity and the tannins are so well covered they are just an after-thought.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Nuits St.Georges 1er Boudots
There’s plenty to see on the nose, and it’s not just about fruit – a nice toffee note comes through too. In the mouth it’s all about fresh fruit and acidity followed by a real extra kick of concentration in the mid-palate and into the finish. This really does have an extra dimension vs the last wines and comes across just a little Vosne-like. Really super, bravo.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Petits Monts
A dark and interesting nose of spice-edged damson and a suggestion of toffee. A subtle and elegant wine, with real depth and quite some complexity. Slightly grainy tannin is a fleeting impression before the acidity whisks you into the long finish.
Rebuy – Yes I did.
2005 Nicolas Potel, Vosne-Romanée 1er Malconsorts
Understated, edgy, coffee-tinged fruit on the nose – the nose never really expands in our time together. Roll this concentrated wine around in your mouth and you get sweet, dense fruit and many dimensions of flavour. The wine still seems to be opening out as you move from the mid-palate into the finish – a peacock’s tail.
Rebuy – Yes

We sampled both the brassy and forward Echezeaux and the denser, more sullen Clos de Vougeot, both were impressive, but both showed too much gas on the palate for a formal note.
2005 Nicolas Potel, Chambertin Clos de Bèze
A very fine and sweet nose with well delineated fruits – very impressive. Wow – almost everything is available here; concentration, never-ending complexity and dimension. Marvellous, multidimensional stuff. This wine almost left me out of breath!
Rebuy – Yes I did!
2005 Nicolas Potel, Bonnes-Mares
A deep nose that also shows quite some width. Warming and swirling fills in the picture with some higher toned notes. Big and impressive in the mouth with chocolate covered fruits and a wave of tannin that keeps abreast of the fruit. Incredibly impressive stuff, but for my own preference it’s just a little brutal today. Really impressive stuff.
Rebuy – Yes

Whilst I thought François and Denis Clair’s Dents de Chien was an okay wine at the price, this is on a completely different level, and to be frank, not that much more expensive…
2004 Alex Gambal, St.Aubin 1er Les Murgers des Dents de Chien
Pale lemon-yellow. A smooth nose of brioche and mineral notes and some quite bready depth – very appealing. This really stands apart on the palate, very good acidity coupled to nice minerality, yet there is good mid-palate impact. The finish is just a little oak driven at the moment, but this wine has drive and personality. Everyone enjoyed this very much.
Rebuy – Yes

Three more bottled wines:
2005 Nicolas Potel, Nuits St.Georges
A fresh and forward, though initially slightly diffuse nose of predominantly red fruit – becomes more interesting and ‘coulis’ in style in the glass. The concentrated palate strikes a masculine pose. Good acidity and intensity too. The finish is a good one, there’s nothing wimpy about this rather ‘honest’ bottle of Nuits. Recommended.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Gevrey-Chambertin
This wine also starts a little slowly the glass, but after a short while the aromatics become quite interesting with faint coffee supporting a nice black fruit profile. In the mouth this is very wide and concentrated with a little grain to the tannin. There’s real mid-palate intensity and just a little oak texture on the long finish. Very high-class villages.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Lavaux St.Jacques
Medium-plus colour. The nose is similar to the village gevrey – if anything tighter, more understated and consistent. Very intense; this is hard to keep in your mouth. Super acidity dovetails with plenty of tannin. Despite the concentration the personality is rather cool, clean, mineral and understated.
Rebuy – Yes

Could it be the hyphen in the names?

The wines are too expensive – there’s no argument – but they offer the opportunity to deliver something truly sublime. Last night it was multiple Coche and Meo washed down with a bottle of Armand Rousseau. Today it was the 2004 reds from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti – most weeks are not like this!

I will probably wait for the next ‘issue’ to give you the notes – otherwise it will be a very thin edition! But despite a number of older Coche wines, only one of them really ‘hooked’ me, and that was a villages. The Meo’s were very good, the Rousseau even better, but the DRC’s are a dream to anyone who wants to make their opinion known: if you’re a believer, they are elegant and transparent, and they are guaranteed to improve for 20+ years. If you’re a non-believer, they are light, insipid and have no chance to get better – everyone’s a winner!

By the way, I’m a believer…

Many apologies for the ‘piece-meal’ approach to delivering these notes, but frankly I don’t have the time available to write them all in one shot – besides it might get a little boring around here if I gave you 20 notes and nothing else for the next week 😉
The wines below are all Côte de Beaune reds and were tasted after bottling. I have notes from another 3 bottled wines from the Côte de Nuits and lastly 8 sampled from barrel about 2 weeks before bottling which will followin the next days. I’d buy any othe wines below – no problem – but special mention (for my preferences) goes to the Volnay 1er Caillerets.
2005 Nicolas Potel, Volnay Vieilles Vignes
Medium-plus cherry-red colour. There’s a concentrated core of red fruit on the nose, pure but linear. The palate is very serious; there’s plenty of faintly grained and slightly astringent tannin. The acidity is fine, and leads to a very good, mouth-watering length. Super villages.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Les Peuillets
Again, medium-plus cherry-red colour. The nose is about sweet, focused fruit, plus occasional hints of malo. Sweet and ripe, the palate remains very fresh. Quite narrow in the mid-palate, but much longer finishing than I was expecting. Very nice, but certainly needs at least 1+ year to integrate…
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Volnay 1er Caillerets
Medium-plus colour – almost purple. A wide and really interesting nose of black-shaded fruit over a base of coffee. The finest tannins yet – they are only faintly astringent, despite their abundance. The fruit on the palate is very clean and understated yet very long. This is a fantastic wine and worth a special search.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Pommard 1er Rugiens
A nose of real depth with forward black fruit and just a touch of reduction. The palate shows real concentration and plenty of tannin, but the tannin is amply covered by black shaded fruit. The fruit widens and widens into the finish. Large-scaled and concentrated without being over-blown. Impressive juice.
Rebuy – Yes

I really enjoyed the 99 Santenay from the other day, but this 96 didn’t quite do the business…
1996 Jacques Germain, Beaune 1er Les Teurons
Medium-plus ruby-red colour. The nose is high-toned and wide with a pronounced meaty/savoury aspect – characterful but it didn’t work for me. The main impression from the palate is the acidity – forward but quite soft. The wine is certainly intense and long, but at this stage in its development the aroma and flavour profile don’t endear it to me – more of a spotty adolescent than mature interest. Previous bottles have been much nicer so I will give this the benefit of the doubt. Remaining bottles will not be touched in the next 3-4 years…
Rebuy – Maybe

I always enjoy my visits chez Potel; the wines usually offer value, start with ‘good quality’ as a baseline, and occasional cuvées can be stunning. More importantly, because the house style is largely consistent and neutral (and you have a wide palate of cuvées), you can get a great feel for the vintage in almost half a day, without the wood getting in the way.

First up a few whites that are already bottled. Fabrice Lesne has been working at the domaine for a while now, his prior experience came at the Hospices de Nuits, Domaine Bertagna and also looking after the Meursaults of Bouchard Père et Fils. After going through the bottles Fabrice put me on the spot and asked with a smile, “so, what did you think?” I replied that I preferred the delivery and minerality of his 2004’s as the 05’s seem rather rich at the moment – he shrugged – keeping his big smile and said “of-course, but that’s the vintage!”

There’s a lot of wine packed into these bottles and it will be interesting to see how they settle. Today they all more about rich and poweful delivery, than taught, structured intensity – many will prefer them to the 2004’s – but not me, not yet.
2005 Nicolas Potel, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er La Maltroie
Medium lemon-yellow. The nose is high-toned with a little citrus and deep segments of fruit. Rich but round flavours expand in the mid-palate and show good length. This is a clean, powerful and quite interesting wine.
Rebuy – Yes
2005 Nicolas Potel, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Champs-Canet
This wine hails from the Meursault side of the appellation. The nose is narrower, tigher and more melon influenced – it really doesn’t give any clues to the label. The palate is quite opulent, almost 2003 in delivery – though with much better acidity. On the finish there is still a texture from the oak – nothing major, and it will probably be gone within 6 months. Again this is a rich, powerful wine that today shows none of the classic Puligny tension.
Rebuy – Maybe
2005 Nicolas Potel, Meursault 1er Genevrières
A nose of real width, at it’s centre an intense core of agrumes with (perhaps) just an edge of marzipan. A soft and understated entry, but real mid-palate power is evident that effortlessly carries into the finish which today mainly shows sweet oak flavour.
Rebuy – Maybe

I should subtitle this as “don’t worry about the price of 2005 Musigny”. Given that the average 2005 will be (a little) better than the average 1999, this excellent wine really exemplifies what treasures await in 05 – and from all sorts of appellations too – don’t worry about the trophy wines, just fill your storage space with good 05 village and 1er Cru wines and you have the opportunity to drink well for the best part of the next 20 years; and if 2007 is hailed as even better than 2005 – so what! – you can go on holiday to the Maldives instead of chasing the en-primeurs…
1999 Jean-Claude Belland, Santenay 1er Comme
Deep colour – actually there’s still just the merest hint of cherry-red at the rim. The reticent nose is rather brooding, alternately showing some lovely pure blackcurrant fruit then a rather more mineral note – not unlike the graphite of a Paulliac, perhaps hints of licorice too. Very well textured – you really have to roll the wine around your mouth to find the tannins as they still have plenty of dark fruit coverage – faint grain can be found eventually. There’s real concentration here and quite a burst on the mid-palate too. The acidity is just right, only on the finish does this wine hint at its origins – medium-plus length at best. This wine delivers much more than I expected, and in a very understated way – it probably requires at least 3-5 years more in the cellar – but this bottle was far from sacrificed.
Rebuy – Yes