Tasting Notes
JancisRobinson.com 18/20
South-east corner on the Chambolle side, downslope, so all terres rouges/red clay. Red soil gives more juiciness and sappiness, the white marl more tension. Downslope the vineyard is ‘relaxing’, suggests Millet. Upslope on the limestone it is ‘ready for action’. (The Morey-St-Denis side has more structure.) The one wine that invites punchdowns, he says. Fragrant with dark fruits and the sweetness of blueberry. A cedary freshness ‘of the forest’. Dark and peppery too. On the palate, rich, full and sweet but no excess sweetness, with floral notes that are more violets than roses. Succulent and chewy but leaves the mouth clean. (JH)
Anticipated maturity: 2027-2040
Vinous 93
The 2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru has a not dissimilar bouquet to the Les Amoureuses, though here there is slightly more red fruit and perhaps a heightened sense of Pinoté. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly grippy tannin, good backbone (as usual) and a saline influence that becomes more accentuated toward the fresh finish. This feels a little tight-lipped at the moment compared to others tasted from barrel, but it also feels persistent and, for want of a better word, enigmatic.
Anticipated maturity: 2023-2045
Robert Parker 93
The 2017 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru is also unusually saturated in hue this year, though Millet reports having done no more pigeage than usual. Offering up aromas of dark cherries, wild berries, cassis, dark chocolate, peony and caramelized orange rind, the wine is medium to full-bodied, ample and elegantly fine boned, with chalky structuring tannins, a pure core of fruit and a long, fragrant finish. Despite its disconcertingly deep hue this is one of the most supple, elegant renditions of the de Vogüe Bonnes Mares in the last decade.
