2008 Bourgogne Rouge 'Maison Dieu' Domaine de Bellene

Bourgogne Rouge covers a wide range of possibilities, from inexpensive co-operative wine to hand-crafted cuvées from plots of vines in the Côte d’Or which just miss out on belonging to grander appellations. The plot called Maison Dieu, originally planted by the monks, lies just across the road from the village of Pommard.

The current vines date back to 1928 and have been farmed organically for the last decade or more. Domaine de Bellene is the name for Nicolas Potel’s own vineyard holdings from which he has been making wines separately from his merchant operation since 2007.

‘Bellene’ derives from the Roman name for the town of Beaune, and originally from the deity Belenos. Nicolas likes to vinify using a good proportion of the stems as he believes that this heightens the bouquet of the wine and adds complexity as the wine matures.

The wine offers a nose filled with earthy red fruits and exotic spices. Dry on the palate with crisp acidity and soft, rounded tannins with enough grip to match the acidity. Red cherry and raspberry are evident along with the perfumed, damp soil quality that is so often associated with Pinot Noir. The alcohol is balanced and the finish long with lovely concentration of fruit.

Generic red Burgundy was less good in 2008 than 2009, but this is an exception to the rule. Red fruits, fresh acidity and nice, tangy minerality.
(Tim Atkin MW, Top 20 Picks from Berrys' Summer Sale, www.timatkin.com, 14 July 2011)

Most of the fruit for this wine comes from a 1928 vineyard close to Pommard. Attractively fresh colour and a lovely nose of cherry pits and raspberry, with all sorts of herby and truffly nuances. On the palate it is sweet-fruited and ripe, but then there is also freshness thanks to the agile tannins and racy acid at the core. Delightful Burgundy on the lighter side.
The Wine Gang, www.thewinegang.com, July 2011