Winemaker Notes
A blend of five premier cru climats, this homage to Nicolas Potel’s late mother has a lovely and engaging aroma that combines delicate floral nuances with finely structured dark cherry and blueberry fruit. Even some cranberry emerges on the superbly focused mid-palate. A very elegant wine, with fine length.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Nicolas Potel has blended holdings from five separate premiers crus, including Pertuisots, Montée Rouge, Reversés, Bressandes et Clos du Roi, to produce this delightfully nuanced wine dedicated to his mother's memory. Gentle extraction and pigeage by foot deliver a wine of subtle nuance and depth of plummy fruit accented with notes of violets and fresh chocolate. The texture is luxurious yet still quite fresh.
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Tasting Panel
Smooth and juicy, with fine Pinot Noir flavors of cherry and ripe plum. Tangy, pure, and refined; long and rich.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2018 Domaine de Bellene Beaune Premier Cru Hommage à Françoise Potel Vieilles Vignes is layered, elevated, and lasting. TASTING NOTES: This wine flourishes with aromas and flavors of bright red and black fruits, with a hint of spice. Enjoy it with roasted game birds and wild mushrooms. (Tasted: May 9, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
This is tightly wound, with a mineral underpinning and bright acidity defining the black cherry, black currant and stone flavors. Though compact now, it's balanced and long, with a fresh finish. Best from 2024 through 2040. 100 cases imported.
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Wine & Spirits
Powerfully compressed, this wine yields a rose perfume out of its youthful tannic extract. There’s a pungent character to those tannins, with scents of spruce and pine driving the wine forward. Superconcentrated for now, this needs cellar time to reveal its layers of flavor.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
While the city represents the epicenter of wine production in Burgundy, the term, “Beaune” also refers to the specific sub-appellation of the greater Côte de Beaune, whose vineyards climb up the pastoral slopes that border the city to its west. Originally founded as a Roman camp by Julius Caesar, the city of Beaune eventually became the seat of the dukes of Burgundy until the 13th century. Today it is home to top négociants such as Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, Louis Latour, and Bouchard Père et Fils.
The appellation, dominated by Pinot Noir plantings, represents a lovely and charming place to begin to understand red Burgundy. Its sandy soils create light and supple, floral driven Pinot Noir. These wines are designed to be enjoyed within five to 10 years. The vineyards of Beaune span a broad swath of Premier Crus from Savigny-lès-Beaune to its border with Pommard.
Chardonnay acreage here has been increasing here in the more recent years.