2012 Bonnes Mares

A dark, brooding beauty, the 2012 Bonnes-Mares bursts from the glass with superb intensity and pure structure. Even though it has been racked about a week before my visit the 2012 shows gorgeous depth and persistence. Sweet dark red cherry notes linger on the precise finish.

A background application of toasty oak frames a pungent earthy and somber nose of beautifully well-layered dark berry fruit, spice and wisps of smoke. The textured, intense and muscular big-bodied flavors are shaped by ripe tannins that are well-buffered by an abundance of plenty of dry extract before culminating in a balanced, intense and explosively long finish. This very powerful effort is most impressive. Tasted: Apr 15, 2014. Drink: 2024+

The 2012 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is the one perplexing wine from La Pousse d'Or. It is one of the few 2012 samples where I felt some sur-maturite evident on the nose. The palate is extremely, excessively sweet with layers of kirsch and black cherries struck through with fresh prune. Consequently it does not have nearly the complexity or nuance as the Amoureuses. I will seek to re-examine this after bottling. Dec 2013, www.robertparker.com