2005 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

Deep red-ruby. Superripe aromas of black plum, blueberry, graphite, mocha and wild herbs; there's something almost Bordeaux-like about this. Then dense, sweet and powerful, with a seamless, fine-grained texture and a richness verging on chocolatey. Less perfumed than the Chambolle cuvees, but with no shortage of sap. Most impressive today on the back end, finishing with substantial dusty tannins and rising flavors of plum, menthol and chocolate. This muscular and very young wine will be long-lived.

An even riper but not surmature nose that is less elegant and aromatically complex, at least at present, features brooding aromas of black and blue berry plus black cherry and violets nuanced by hints of spice and warm earth merge into big, powerful and well-muscled flavors underpinned by impressive mid-palate concentration and dense but fine tannins, all wrapped in a dazzling long finish that is perfectly balanced. This will clearly require time to unfold but the raw material is indisputably here and like the Musigny, this is built for the very long haul

Always very different from their Musignys, the de Vog plot is on shallow red soil and faces south east so snares some of the most elegant parcels of Bonnes Mares. This wine was much more developed aromatically than the Amoureuses; it positively grabs your attention. More fleshy with some body and yet some animal breadth – even a hint of fur. Fine grained tannins underneath with a chewy finish but lots of ripe, almost strawberry fruit in the middle. (JR)