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The 2008 Bonnes Mares is totally mesmerizing, seductive and haunting; in essence it has all of the qualities that make Burgundy so endlessly fascinating. Soft and ethereal on the palate, the Bonnes Mares exudes tons of vintage character in its perfumed dark fruit. The wine literally floats on the palate all the way through to the eternal finish. This is a dazzling effort. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2038. With each passing year Frederic Mugnier has let up on the reigns of winemaking and allowed the vintage to take center stage. His wines now reflect the unique qualities of each harvest to an exacting degree. Mugnier describes the 2009s as rich, powerful and exceptionally dense wines that will be at their most exciting in several decades’ time, or – as Mugnier says with his typically dry sense of humor – when he’s no longer around. The vintage was marked by one week of very hot weather towards the end of the growing season, although on average 2009 was not a hot year. The harvest began on September 10. For the 2009s Mugnier destemmed 100% of the fruit as he didn’t feel he had the phenolic ripeness in the stems to use whole clusters. Fermentations lasted about three weeks, an approach which is now pretty much consistent from year to year. ‘Long, slow and gentle,’ Mugnier says. The wines were racked once and were scheduled to be bottled between April and May 2011. The percentage of new oak barrels continues to drop and is now between 15-20% across the entire range. I also tasted all of the 2008s, a vintage in which Mugnier’s wines are stratospheric for their sheer beauty, elegance and pedigree. In 2008 the harvest began on September 26, two full weeks after 2009, which is pretty consistent across domaines in these two years. Today the 2008s appear to have more finesse and silkiness. This will be a fascinating vintage to follow here. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet, various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Veritas Imports, Beverly Hills, CA; tel. (310) 205-3803; Toepfer Imports LLC, CO; tel. (303) 818-7640
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Medium red. Captivating, focused, sappy nose offers raspberry, cherry, rose petal, medicinal herbs and mocha. Then juicy, powerful and youthfully tight, with very good mid-palate richness currently suppressed by the wine's very firm tannic structure. The rising finish leaves the taste buds vibrating.
Medium red. Soil-driven aromas of blackberry, mocha and menthol, lifted by white pepper. Dense, structured and sweet, but with penetrating acids and a savory character giving the mid-palate outstanding clarity and energy. Not a particularly fleshy wine but possesses a deep core of spice and a firm spine of tannins and acids. This finished its malo in March but had been racked and sulfited shortly before my visit.
Relatively pale crimson. Great energy and life in the wine that rather belies its paleness. Such sweetness on the front palate. Explosively good, just as de Vogüé’s 2008 Bonnes Mares was. Fine-skeined tannins. Very expressive. Relaxed somehow... (JR)