2008 Bonnes Mares

Black raspberry, cassis, black tea, and game on the nose of Boillot’s 2008 Bonnes Mares segue onto the palate joined by rhubarb-like tartness and peppery pungency. This boasts a sense of lift and energy missing from the other grand crus in the same collection however redoubtable they are (which is very), and along with its density and tannic refinement come saline savor and fresh berry brightness that lend lip-smacking, saliva-inducing status to the finish. I’d expect it to be well worth following for 15-20 years. In 2008, Henri Boillot both expanded his domaine and became ambitious qua negociant with Pinot. In the latter capacity, he looks for contracts where he can exercise control over the farming, so that, for example, all of the 2008s – he reports – were cropped at less than 20 hectoliters per hectare and picked very late. Unorthodoxly (for Burgundy, at least) Boillot pressed many of his reds early to let them complete fermentation in barrel. His malos were late but not dramatically so, finishing in August, and most of the wines were bottled in February, a few earlier. (I tasted several 2007 reds from Boillot, but too early-on to adequately assess, and I have not had time to revisit that collection.) Various importers