Tasting Notes
Vinous – 93-96
(a blend of two-thirds brown soil and one-third white): Full, deep red. Distinctly darker and more medicinal on the nose than the Musigny, hinting at blueberry, blackberry and licorice. Then very ripe and densely packed on the palate, with its flavors of black fruits, medicinal cherry, brown spices and crushed rock lifted by a floral topnote and framed by insidious ripe acidity. Finishes with broad, dusty tannins and terrific lift. This wonderfully savory, super-concentrated Bonnes-Mares is actually remarkably sweet and sexy today, but it’s hard to believe that it won’t shut down in bottle at some point.
Robert Parker – 91
The 2016 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru has a light bouquet with fragrant red cherry and strawberry fruit, nicely defined but I would be seeking more vigor, more gumption considering the vineyard. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, elegant and quite feminine, but like the nose it feels like it does not want to go that extra mile and deliver the amplitude you expect from a Bonnes-Mares. The 2015 was outstanding but this feels as if it is resigned to standing in its shadow.
Anticipated maturity: 2020-2035
