The 2013 Bonnes-Mares is a powerful, vertical wine that is going to need quite a bit of cellaring to fully blossom. Here the aromas and flavors are dark, cool and savory, with plenty of cool, piercing minerality woven throughout. Violets, lavender, sage, black cherries and menthol are some of the nuances that inform the striking, expressive finish.

Deep, bright red. Slightly liqueur-like aromas of blueberry, licorice and menthol. Plush, broad and very ripe, with creamy crystallized berry flavors accented by spices and herbs. Wonderfully rich, round and horizontal but with a sexy restrained sweetness. Finishes broad and long, with supple tannins fully supported by the wine's superb depth of texture. This wine was quite brooding from barrel a year ago; will it go back into a shell in the bottle?

In middle of the vineyard. Terres rouges and blanches. Small parcel so assembled from the start. Fred thinks that inside each climat the magic is to have big diversity which makes the wine complex, rich and well balanced. Separating the soils seems erroneous to him. Still not very deeply coloured but quite intense and full of delight on the nose. Very perfumed. Lots of intensity and depth and yet with great freshness. Great stuff. Orange peel again and wonderfully precise fruit. A really light touch on a great vineyard. Still very youthful. (JR)