2002 Nicolas Potel Clos Saint-Denis

Maison Nicolas Potel is a negociant started in Burgundy in the late 1990s by Nicolas Potel, son of the legendary winemaker Gerard Potel, who founded Domaine de la Pousse d’Or in Volnay. After Gerard’s death in 1997 Nicolas started the negociant business, but a falling out with his business partners in 2009 forced him out of the business that still bears his name. The company is now owned and operated by the brothers Louis and Armand Cottin of Maison Laboure-Roi, a nearly two-hundred year old Burgundy negociant. Nicolas Potel has had no connection with Maison Nicolas Potel since 2009. The Maison offers a large portfolio of Grand Cru, Premier Cru and other Burgundies.

Clos St.-Denis is a 16-acre Grand Cru vineyard in the Morey St.-Denis appellation in Northern Burgundy. In fact the village of Morey St.-Denis gets part of its name from this vineyard. In 1927 the village voted to add St.-Denis to Morey. Like its neighboring Grand Cru vineyards, Clos St.-Denis is rocky, well-drained, and composed largely of limestone and pebbles. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that three of “the greatest Burgundies I have ever tasted” came from this vineyard. (They were produced by Dujac, Ponsot and Georges Lignier.) The largest landholders are Georges Lignier, with 3.7 acres; Dujac, with 3.68 acres; and Drouhin, with 1.8 acres.

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.