Medium, medium-plus colour. Tight, fine, furry high tones, ginger. This really expands in the mouth; complex, wiry and with velvet tannin – then expands again. Very long and savoury finish.
Comments for this entry
Bonnes-Mares
2007 Potel Nicolas Bonnes-Mares
The aromas are tighter, good depth but little else to start with. Mouth-filling, certainly not the brutality of the 2005, but there remains concentration and quite some intensity in equal measure – very well balanced though. Dark flavours that finish rather long. Eventually the nose develops a toffee-edged red fruit note.
2007 Roumier Georges Bonnes-Mares
Has ‘chambolle’ aromatics of flowers and pepper, but with the underlying density of Morey St.Denis’ – Christophe. I seem to agree, the nose gives up lovely pure fruit with a more floral top-note. I find the palate very, very mineral – a surprise to me given the unyielding power of many Bonnes-Mares – yet there is undeniable intensity, energy to go with that minerality. The tannins are silky smooth, I noted myself still thinking about those tannins before realising the flavour was still with me – this is very long! It’s actually my first B-M from the domaine, and now I understand why people go nuts for it!
2007 Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes-Mares
After the Amoureuses the nose is broader, less refined but full of energy – like the premier cru there is a hint of background spice. Mouth-filling with soft tannin and juicy fruit – actually for the first time I have an impression in my mind of ‘risotto rice’ for the tannins – soft but still with a little bite of crunchy texture at their core. François says this can be a characteristic of the ‘terres rouges’ where the domaine’s vines are planted. Long finishing, this wine is not as forceful as some vintages, but I like it all the more for that. Excellent.
2000 Dujac Bonnes-Mares
The nose is wide and surprisingly mineral with understated red fruits – no obvious stems showing here. In the mouth the personality is of a medium-bodied red-fruited wine with tannin that’s hardly worth a mention. Despite its very understated acidity it is both long finishing and not a little mouth-watering. I found this a very good and very approachable wine, though several steps below the quality I might expect given the pricing of more recent vintages.
1998 Fougeray de Beauclair Bonnes-Mares
Medium, medium-pale ruby red. A nice, rather aged but still fruity nose edged with a little funk. In the mouth the fruit is okay, but the remnants of the tannin still show an astringent edge – this must have been close to undrinkable in its youth! It’s quite long and it’s a tasty length, but the fruit is way ahead of the tannin in termes of the age curve. I wouldn’t touch another for 5 years and I still think it will be a long way from silky.
1957 Berry Bros & Rudd Bonnes-Mares
Medium colour – both alive and interesting – looked super in the glass. The nose was fecund, with interesting if not all-encompassing depth and slowly became sweeter in the glass. A sweet entry, predominantly resolved tannin and just about middle-weight flavours. Slightly warming in the mid-palate with a length that just went on and on. Wonderful length – if not complexity. Not a phrase I would expect to associate with Bonnes-Mares – even one that was more than 50 years old – but this was rather a charmer.
2006 Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes-Mares
1990 Drouhin Joseph Bonnes-Mares
Medium, medium-plus colour. Served a little cold and it’s tight, this really needed a bout 90 minutes before we had a powerhouse nose befitting a Bonnes-Mores with earth, high tones and just a little spice. In the mouth it was lithe, showed good acidity but there’s a sharp edge to the acidity. The length is excellent, there’s no fat and no roast fruit. All in all it’s fresh and exciting in the glass, but always retains that edge to the acidity.