Robert Parker – 89-91

The 2013 Montrachet Grand Cru, which comes from the Puligny side courtesy of a cask purchased before malolactic, has a pebbly, slightly flinty bouquet. The palate is taut and linear, citric at the moment but terse and laconic on the finish. There is great tension and nervosite, but it needs to find more to say. There are no marks for the label and to be frank, I preferred the Meursault Perrieres tasted just prior to this. Nicolas Potel’s wines have a strong following in the UK, the United States and Japan and for good reason. His wide portfolio of both domaine and negociant wines can be absolutely delicious, as proven by this year’s blind tasting back in August, whereupon a couple of his 2011s surpassed more illustrious names. Certainly he has had a rather tumultuous career since the death of his hugely respected and influential father, and yet few winemakers exude positivity as much as Nicolas. What does bring him down? Well, he was lamenting recently, spotting a bottle bearing his family name in a supermarket priced at an insulting 10 euros (this is after Laboure-Roi fired Nicolas back in 2009 and own his name – an absurd situation.) Yet Nicolas always comes back, reinventing himself with the common theme of top-notch winemaking. He expressed his long-term plan to focus more and more on the domaine side of the business rather than negociant, moving the business out of his cramped premises on the Dijon road in Beaune to something more spacious. Essentially, he wants to return to his roots, those that I am sure he dreamed of when working alongside his father in the 1990s. I asked Nicolas what he thought of the vintage. "It reminded me of 1993," he answered. "The 1993 had a little more mildew, but on top of 2013 we had rain and the problem of the hail, so it was more complicated." Nicolas chaptalized his wines by around 0.5 degrees for the whites and 0.3 for the red wines. Potel’s range offers something for everyone, whether it is an entry-level Bourgogne Rouge or a Montrachet, and the bonus is that they are often well priced. [Neal Martin, 01/12/2014]

Anticipated maturity: 2018-2030