2006 Bonnes Mares

The Potel 2006 Bonnes Mares is another case of truth in terroir, as it leads with a site-typical savagery of tart red fruits, pungent herbs, and smoked meats. Red currant, raspberry, sage, wormwood, sassafras, licorice, black tea, white pepper, and ham hock are all contributory to the rich, dense-packed, invigorating display, culminating in a finish that practically gangs up on your palate. This is not where to look for the gentle or subtle side of 2006 Burgundian Pinot, and it may never shed a certain rusticity of tannin. I would anticipate at least a dozen years of excitement from bottles. The wine was actually a bit reduced and needed time to gather its formidable forces before it really landed the first punch. Nicolas Potel consistently favors promoting ripeness at low potential alcohol and consistently eschews chaptalization. He is also a fan of freshness and clarity in Pinot, while maintaining notably low levels of sulfur. A vintage where a significant share of fruit came in near or above 14% potential alcohol and was shadowed by botrytis was thus a challenge, which seems to have been selectively well met. (For more on the style and methods associated with Maison Nicolas Potel – whose wines are sourced from a mixture of contract fruit and purchased juice – consult my report in issue 171.) Despite the huge number of 2006s I tasted here, incidentally, they did not represent the entire Potel vintage collection. In May, 2009, Potel left the negociant firm that bears his name (and which belongs to the Cottin brothers, owners of Laboure-Roi) to devote himself entirely to his own domaine and negociant operation, Maison Roche de Bellene, which crushed its first grapes with the 2007 vintage (in part from Potel holdings that were showcased in Maison Potel bottlings of vintages 2005 and 2006). Long-time cellarmaster Fabrice Lesne has now assumed direction of Maison Potel. By the way, suggested retail prices for the 2006s here took a sharp downturn vis-a-vis those for the 2005s, an occurrence worth noting for its rarity. (That said, of course the effective, eventual retail prices for all 2006s have turned on market factors that transcended cellar door prices, let alone the parameters envisioned by national importers). Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700