Domaine de Bellene Bourgogne Rouge Maison Dieu 2013

When is organic wine not organic? Well, when you're too ethical to be organic of course! Wait what, isn't that like being too millennial to eat avocado? That's exactly what the guys at Domaine de Bellene have been going through. Like John Lennon sending his MBE back to the palace in a cab, Domaine de Bellene voluntarily left the certification. This was due to there being no alternative to pyrethrum in treatment against leafhopper. They felt pyrethrum was not selective enough; causing harm to all sorts of useful critters. Thus, they make fantastic Pinots with an organic philosophy but without the sticker on the back. Well done guys, making ecological choices is a reward in itself!

While running Maison Nicolas Potel in Nuits St Georges, Nicolas Potel set up his own négoçiant company in 1997, the year after his father’s death and the sale of Domaine de la Pousse d’Or which Gérard Potel had been managing. Though his own business was taken over by the Cottin brothers of Maison Labouré-Roi in 2004, Nicolas continued to run the operation until 2009 while looking out for vineyard land of his own. In 2005, he was able to buy some vineyards (the former Domaine Carementrant, in Beaune) though the 2005 and 2006 crops were included in his négoçiants operation, then bottled as Domaine Nicolas Potel for 2007. The business has been renamed Domaine de Bellene from the 2008 vintage onwards.

The wines have minimal intervention used in both the vineyard and the winery to best express the terroir of Burgundy. The grapes go through a sorting table, then around 40% are destemmed. The fermentation takes place in a mixture of stainless steel and oak casks and takes place for around 20-25 days. The grapes are then gently pressed to maintain a purity of fruit, then aged in used oak to give subtle and integrated spiced notes, without overpowering the red fruit and earthy expressions of Pinot Noir.