Bonnes Mares, Domaine Georges & Christophe Roumier 2016

The 2016 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru was not as affected by the frost as other cuvées. Christophe explained that the northern part of his vines was less frozen and ended up being cropped at a none-too-shabby 28 hectoliters per hectare. Also, his holding is augmented by half a hectare situated on the terres blanches soils under a new fermage from Pierre Naigeon. It has a very precise bouquet that delivers exquisite blackberry, briary and subtle leafy/undergrowth scents emanating from the whole bunch element. For a Bonnes Mares, this has an atypically firm structure: a more masculine Bonnes Mares with dark berry fruit and hints of graphite toward the finish. This is a Bonnes Mares that is holding its breath, and it deserves several years, probably a decade, to reach its drinking window. It is not quite as good as the 2015 Bonnes Mares, but it is only a whisker away.

The Bonnes-Mares is one of the high points of the Roumier range this year, opening in the glass with aromas of wild berries, ripe red cherry, currant leaf, roast espresso, peony and venison. On the palate the wine is very full-bodied, multidimensional and authoritative. It's layered and textural in the mouth, with an ample chassis of fine, tense tannin almost entirely cloaked in a rich core of sappy fruit. A splendid Bonnes-Mares.

The 2016 Bonnes-Mares from Christophe Roumier is a legend in the making, as this wine has turned out brilliantly in this vintage. The bouquet soars from the glass in a blaze of sappy red and black cherries, gamebird, limestone soil tones, woodsmoke, violets and raw cocoa. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and displays stunning, sappy depth at the core, with magical transparency, fine-grained tannins and a very, very long, pure and classic finish. A great Bonnes-Mares in the making! (Drink between 2029-2080)

This is unusually high-toned with its pure essence of red berry fruit, earth and discreet spice nuances. There is a wonderfully refined texture to the stony, chiseled and focused broad-shouldered flavors that possess a taut muscularity that really comes on the intensely saline and youthfully austere finish that is sneaky long. The addition of .5 ha of terres blanches is understandably going to change the nature of this wine to one that is somewhat more elegant if less powerful. I like the change but long-time fans should be aware that going forward, the Roumier BM has changed.

'Terres rouges' is very close to the northern limit, with Morey. Pruning identical. ‘Terres blanches’ is above the path that dissects Bonnes Mares. Roumier has three parcels from far north to far south. In 2016 he was able to include the fruit from an extra ha of land owned by Ficofi – planted in 1995, in a good state and a little more vigorous than this – in the terres blanches. Now they
have six different parcels and only one was badly frozen. 28 hl/ha average. So normal quantity thanks to extra vines. 65% whole bunch. Less new oak than usual: 25%. Dark crimson. Juicy and alluring on the nose. And then wonderfully rich and exciting on the palate. Great intensity and majesty. Woo hoo! Long and gorgeous. Drink between 2026-2045