2012 Domaine Georges Roumier Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

Tasted blind at the annual "Burgfest" tasting in Beaune. The 2012 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru from Domaine Georges Roumier has a touch of reduction to get round first, though underneath are sophisticated red and black fruit, the oak nicely integrated though needing another couple of years to fully knit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, dense black fruit, quite saline in the mouth but nicely focused with a structured, introspective but extraordinarily long finish that will require three or four years to mellow. There is so much potential here - words written before I knew the identity of the grower.

Bright, dark red. Darker but less expressive on the nose than the Amoureuses, offering pungent, soil-inflected scents of red peony, pink peppercorn, brown spices and medicinal menthol. Fat and sweet on entry, then quite backward in the mid-palate, showing less detail than the Amoureuses but desperately in need of oxygen--or long bottle aging. With its serious chocolatey tannins, intense spiciness and suggestion of dried berries, this very ripe wine is more brown than white soil in personality. Lay it down.