The 2010 Bonnes-Mares is explosive and totally exciting. A big, broad- shouldered frame supports a core of black fruit, mint, flowers and licorice in this powerful, massively structured wine. Here, too, it is the wine’s energy and focus that truly stand out most. The finish turns weightless and totally sublime. As usual, I tasted the Bonnes-Mares from its two main components, and then in the blend, and it was the blend that was most convincing of the three wines. The 2010 Bonnes-Mares is a wine built for a long rest in the cellar before it begins to approach the early part of what promises to be a long drinking window. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050. The only real problem with Christophe Roumier’s 2010s is the production, which was severely compromised by the December 2009 frost and the poor weather of 2010, especially during the flowering. On a more positive note, the wines are marked by their total transparency. Some of the entry-level wines are a bit on the light side, but the best 1er Crus and the Grand Crus are magical. Roumier started picking on September 28. Some of the wines were lightly chaptalized. I will report on the 2009s in our April issue. Importer: Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Napa CA; tel. (707) 299-2600

An overtly cool and restrained yet, somewhat curiously, an even spicier nose reveals notes of violet, black berry and cassis along with earth and stone hints. The dense, powerful, concentrated and muscular flavors possess an almost pungent minerality that adds lift to the extremely firm but not hard finish that possesses explosive length. This is breathtakingly good and somewhat like the Bussières, it's even finer than usual. A great Roumier Bonnes Mares. Drink: 2028+
-Burghound.com, Issue 49. Tasted: Jan 14, 2013

Wine Advocate February, 2012

The 2010 Bonnes-Mares is explosive and totally exciting. A big, broad- shouldered frame supports a core of black fruit, mint, flowers and licorice in this powerful, massively structured wine. Here, too, it is the wine’s energy and focus that truly stand out most. The finish turns weightless and totally sublime. As usual, I tasted the Bonnes-Mares from its two main components, and then in the blend, and it was the blend that was most convincing of the three wines. The 2010 Bonnes-Mares is a wine built for a long rest in the cellar before it begins to approach the early part of what promises to be a long drinking window. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2050.

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Good full, deep, bright red. Black and blue fruits complicated by menthol and brown spices on the nose. Chewy and powerfully structured but more monolithic in the early going than the Amoureuses, showing little in the way of easy sweetness. This tactile but compact wine seems to be in the process of shutting down in bottle. But it boasts the balance, sheer intensity and tannic spine for a long and glorious evolution in bottle.

Very solid, almost animal. Great weight and solidity. This one has its feet firmly on the ground. Savoury finish. The driest of the range on the end. Solid, and a tiny bit of a carthorse. (JR)