Bright, deep red. Crushed blueberry, pomegranate, kirsch and licorice on the very fresh, perfumed nose, lifted by notes of lilac and peony. Suave and seamless on the palate, but with superb energy and lift to the flavors of cherry, purple fruits and spicy oak. Wonderfully juicy, sappy wine with a strong finishing note of blackberry, noble tannins and outstanding rising length. A brilliant Bonnes-Mares.

Not unexpectedly here the brooding and somber nose is completely different with a much greater emphasis on earth and smoked tea nuances on the darker hued fruit that includes cassis and black raspberry. The rich, powerful and impressively concentrated large-scaled flavors exhibit a sleek muscularity on the pure, balanced and gorgeously long finish. Like most of these 2010s, there is a serenity present here that allows the wines to unfold elegantly and coherently. This is a compact and quite forceful wine yet it delivers that power with no sense of weight or heaviness. Drink: 2025+
-Allen Meadows, Burghound.com, Issue 49. Tasted: Jan 14, 2013

The 2010 Bonnes-Mares is a huge, spherical wine that fills out in every dimension. It truly is captivating from the very first taste. Black cherries, plums, smoke, graphite, licorice, menthol and tar burst from the glass as the wine shows off its statuesque, towering personality. The 2010 boasts stunning richness allied to powerful tannins in a full-bodied style that is simply dazzling. This is a dramatic, thrilling wine from de Vogue, but it will test readers’ patience. Those who can find the Bonnes-Mares should forget about it for at least 15 years. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2045. Long-time oenologist Francois Millet was away during my visit to Burgundy, so I can’t relay his always visually evocative thoughts on recent vintages. At the end of the day, though, these wines need no words; they speak for themselves, and then some. Commercial director Jean-Luc Pepin was kind enough to show me all of the 2010s and 2009s (from bottle), including the seldom seen Bourgogne Blanc. I will report on the 2009s in the April issue. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Atlanta Wholesale Wines, Atlanta, GA; tel. (404) 696-9440; C?Est Vin, District of Columbia; tel. (703) 243-3559; Dreyfus Ashby & Co., New York, NY; tel. (212) 818-0770

Wine Advocate February, 2012

The 2010 Bonnes-Mares is a huge, spherical wine that fills out in every dimension. It truly is captivating from the very first taste. Black cherries, plums, smoke, graphite, licorice, menthol and tar burst from the glass as the wine shows off its statuesque, towering personality. The 2010 boasts stunning richness allied to powerful tannins in a full-bodied style that is simply dazzling. This is a dramatic, thrilling wine from de Vogue, but it will test readers’ patience. Those who can find the Bonnes-Mares should forget about it for at least 15 years. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2045.

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