Nicolas Potel

Nicolas Potel is a confirmed workaholic - a man who has never had any truck with European Work Directives. We suspect he'd prefer a 35 hour day to a 35 hour week. All the more time for making, tasting, enthusing about and drinking wine. A lengthy late night sans sulfre Beaujolais tasting in a Beaune wine bar was a typical end to a recent visit chez Potel.

Nicolas is the sin of the late, great Gerard Potel, who managed Volnay's Domaine Pousse d'Or, until his untimely death in 1997. Following his father's death, the financiers who owned the domaine sold out leaving Nicolas without his family home and expected winemaking legacy. His response was to found a micro-negociant business, renting vines and buying grapes from friends and growers across the Cote d'Or.

The phrase 'well connected' could have been invented about Nicolas and his contacts are second to none, resulting in access to some of the best terroirs in Burgundy, From a standing start in 1997, he was making wine from 80 different vineyards by 1999 and 120 by 2002. Today that number has stabilised around the 90 - 100 mark depending on the vintage.

The wines are made in a cellar near the train station in Nuits St-George (Nicolas jokingly refers to them as 'vins de gare') where Nicolas' painstaking approach is clearly evident at harvest time. To the amazement of other producers, Nicolas employs 26 people in his cellars during the vintage. Such a large number is very expensive but allows Nicolas to ensure that everything is done by hand, exactly when it needs to be done. Nothing is sacrificed to a lack of time or manpower. Everything must be perfect.

Nicolas is also a firm advocate of biodynamics and follows it meticulously in his cellars. As a negociant he is not always able to insist his growers follow his ideas but he actively seeks out organic and biodynamic producers as well as those with old vines. Vieilles Vignes is a familiar sight on Burgundian labels but all too often it is more a reflection of an astute marketer than the age of the vines. Not so in Nicolas' case. Only vines aged fifty plus are so labelled here.

His commitment to the environment is deep and heartfelt; an hour in his company is all you need to be convinced of the importance of the issues involved. He is currently building a new home for Maison Potel in Beaune which will need no support from the national grid and leave no stain on the environment.

But what about the wines? Unusually for Burgundy, Nicolas is just as at home making red or white wines, though he is best known for his Cote de Nuits reds. He ferments whole bunches to gently extract as much pure Pinot fruit as he can whilst minimising any harder tannins. The results are always bright and lively with pretty floral fruit and a fine, fresh structure. The more expensive cuvees see a proportion of new oak but it is always sensitively handled to add richness and breadth rather than toast or chocolate flavours. Sensibly priced Burgundies from great producers are not easy to find, we feel very lucky to have Nicolas on board.