2022 Bonnes Mares

The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is deep and resonant, unfurling in the glass with aromas of raspberries and red cherries mingling with rose petal, Indian spices and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's dense and multidimensional, yet it avoids the hulking muscularity of which this cuvée is capable, retaining a cool core of fruit and concluding with a long, sapid finish. Roumier prefers his more ethereal (and more overtly whole-cluster inflected) Amoureuses, but I gravitate towards the profound Bonnes-Mares.

Cask sample. Deep-mid cherry. Kapow! Straight out of the blocks with an intense, dark-red-fruit nose and smoky complexity. Ebullient and engaging. Very complete, very Bonnes Mares. Opulence, balance and brilliance. Acidity very integrated, as indeed are the tannins. It’s about amplitude and volume. Lovely. A cracker. (MH)