Domaine de Bellene Les Perrières Beaune Premier Cru 2020

Les Perrières is putting Beaune (a region known for powerful and robust Pinot Noir) on the map for white Burgundy. It's one of Beaune's highest, stoniest Premiers Crus, and the late Nicolas Potel believed in it enough to tear out his plot of Pinot grapes and replant the whole limestone slope to Chardonnay. Further, 2020 is a white Burgundy vintage people are still fighting to get their hands on, and this one is loaded with ample energy and elegance. Under $100 is a bargain here, but we don't have much...

"Perrières" comes from "pierre" (stone), as this is a quarry of a vineyard, a steep, stony slope of Oxfordian limestone slabs sitting up around 410 meters at the northern end of Beaune, out toward Savigny. It's one of the appellation's higher and smaller Premiers Crus, tucked among famous neighbors like Les Cent Vignes, Les Bressandes, and Les Marconnets. Limestone at altitude, poor stony soil, cool nights... if you were designing a site for poised, mineral Chardonnay, it would look a lot like this.

Nicolas Potel saw that vision instinctually. The plot was historically planted to Pinot Noir, but Nicolas bought it and replanted the whole thing to Chardonnay in 2013 because, as he put it, this is "a super vineyard," and Chardonnay loves limestone. The first vintage came in 2017, so the vines here were still young in 2020, yet the site gives so much regardless of its age. Everything at Domaine de Bellene is farmed sustainably and organically, with a fierce focus on old vines and massale selection over clones. Nicolas's whole philosophy was wines that taste of place, not of style.

He grew up at Domaine de la Pousse d'Or in Volnay, where his father Gérard was the celebrated régisseur. After his father's death in 1997, he struck out on his own, first as a négociant and ultimately founding both Domaine de Bellene (the estate) and Maison Roche de Bellene (the négociant house) in Beaune. He passed away in the summer of 2025, which makes each of these bottles feel like a small piece of his remarkable legacy. Wines from one of the most respected and original names in modern Burgundy.

2020 white Burgundies came in ripe and fresh, in a classic, tightly-wound style that veterans have compared to 2017 with a touch of 2014. Chardonnay was one of the season's clear winners across the Côte de Beaune. In the glass, this opens with white peach, Asian pear, and citrus oil, laced with white flowers, hazelnut, and a flick of white pepper. The palate is silky but taut, driven by a firm mineral line, with the cuvée's signature saline finish that goes long and cool with a bit of citrus lift. It's precise, savory, and entirely charming now, with life to give a few more years in the cellar, too.

What's not to love? Classic yet distinct white Burgundy from a regional standout and stellar vintage is something not to be missed indeed!