The 2013 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru as a strict and linear bouquet with touches of mulberry, black plum, touches of overripe Satsuma embroidered with fine mineral notes. The palate is crisp and taut with tensile tannins, gentle at first but becoming more intense and serious toward the finish, as if it wanted to reinforce its status as a grand cru. It reminds me of de Vogüé’s Bonnes-Mares in the sense that it is more serious that your average Bonnes-Mares that can be like a misbehaving Musigny. This Bonnes-Mares will want to discuss Dostoevsky with you…and then it will misbehave.

Moderately saturated medium red. Highly nuanced scents of red cherry, raspberry, flowers and underbrush. At once silky and penetrating, showing a positive medicinal aspect to its flavors of red berries, flowers and spicy herbs. Very shapely wine with a rising finish featuring suave tannins and noteworthy finesse. A superb showing; this strikes me as more refined than the larger-scaled 2014.

The 2013 Bonnes Mares is a wine of amplitude, power and depth, all supported by serious tannins that suggest it is going to enjoy a very long life. Hints of lavender, pine and rose petal grace the exquisite finish. There is plenty to admire in this statuesque, pedigreed Burgundy. Clair's Bonnes Mares emerges from a parcel on the Morey side of the vineyard adjacent to Clos de Tart.

Darkish ruby. Intense nose. Very rich and confident. This is definitely worth a lot of money, though whether it’s worth this amount (far from the most expensive offering) is still open to question. Quite a bit of tannin buried under the intense fruit here. Admirable. Very long. (JR)