The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is deep and resonant, unfurling in the glass with aromas of raspberries and red cherries mingling with rose petal, Indian spices and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's dense and multidimensional, yet it avoids the hulking muscularity of which this cuvée is capable, retaining a cool core of fruit and concluding with a long, sapid finish. Roumier prefers his more ethereal (and more overtly whole-cluster inflected) Amoureuses, but I gravitate towards the profound Bonnes-Mares.

The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru includes 75% whole bunches, but you cannot detect a stem on the nose. This is an ebullient bouquet with exquisite black cherries, wild strawberry fruit, crushed violet, and hints of inkwell. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. There’s real backbone here and layers of mineral-rich red and blue fruit. The finish that fans out gloriously with lip-smacking salinity. Stunning.

Cask sample. Deep-mid cherry. Kapow! Straight out of the blocks with an intense, dark-red-fruit nose and smoky complexity. Ebullient and engaging. Very complete, very Bonnes Mares. Opulence, balance and brilliance. Acidity very integrated, as indeed are the tannins. It’s about amplitude and volume. Lovely. A cracker. (MH)