Domaine de Bellene Vieilles Vignes Côte de Nuits-Villages 2021

Some of red Burgundy's best-value Pinot Noir is hiding in plain sight in Côte de Nuits-Villages – the appellation that gathers old-vine fruit from the outer edges of the Côte de Nuits, same postal code as Nuits-Saint-Georges but nothing like the sticker shock. This one grows on organically farmed old vines in Comblanchien and carries the name of the late, much-loved Nicolas Potel. From the fresh and precise 2021 vintage and priced under $35, it’s almost too easy to take home.

The villages at the far northern and southern tips of the Côte de Nuits – Fixin and Brochon up top, Comblanchien, Corgoloin, and Premeaux down below – grow lovely Pinot Noir but were never granted their own appellation. Instead they get to pool their fruit under one banner: Côte de Nuits-Villages. It’s like a greatest-hits compilation of the region's edges, priced like a warm-up act. This particular bottle is anchored in Comblanchien, a village whose limestone is so hard and lustrous it's been cut from the ground since Roman days and set into some of France's most famous buildings. That very stone gives the wine its cool, chiseled, mineral core.

The name on the label belongs to Nicolas Potel, one of Burgundy's most beloved figures, who sadly passed last summer. Nicolas grew up at Domaine de la Pousse d'Or in Volnay, learning at the elbow of his father Gérard, a pioneer of the estate-bottling era. He first made his name as a négociant with a genius for coaxing great barrels out of great growers, then poured everything into Domaine de Bellene – the name a wink at the ancient roots of "Beaune" – where he farmed organically, worked out of historic old-stone cellars in the center of town, and treated ancient vines like the treasures they are. The fruit here comes from plants averaging roughly 75 years old… stubborn, low-yielding old-timers that give up only a handful of tiny, deeply flavored berries, raised with a light touch in large, well-worn French oak so nothing gets in the way of the wine.

2021 was a cooler, smaller-crop, thoroughly classic Burgundy vintage, and the reds came out fresh, transparent, and full of nervy energy. It’s chock-full of bright red cherry and cranberry, a lift of rose and violet, a curl of white pepper and anise, and that faintly saline, crushed-limestone snap on a finish with real grip and zip. It's drinking beautifully today and has the structure to keep for several years, though it's every bit as happy on a random weeknight as it would be on a special one. Under $35 on genuine old-vine Côte de Nuits from a maker of this caliber doesn't turn up often, and it never sticks around long. 

FOOD PAIRINGS: A plate of roast chicken thighs finished with pan drippings and a tangle of buttered greens is earthy and comforting enough to meet all that bright red fruit halfway.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: A fresh, earthy, and edgy old-vine Burgundy calls for something warm and rootsy but bright around the edges – put on the Grateful Dead's "Ripple" and let go for the evening.