92

Neal Martin

Vinous

The 2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is darker in color, much more fruit-forward and less terroir-driven than its peers, though it is very pure, offering black cherries, raspberry confit and plenty of blue fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, almost saturated tannins and a mélange of red and blueberry fruit. Quintessential Bonnes-Mares, with a judicious lushness toward the finish. Very fine, but not best in show. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2017 tasting. 09/2021

92-96

Jasper Morris

Inside Burgundy

The step brother, we decided in conversation, not a direct blood member of the Chambolle-Musigny family. This is the only cuvée where francois Millet employs punching down. There is a very intense ruby colour here, dense and dark on the palate with a driven mineral acidity that just takes the blackness off the fruit, a little bit of that rhubarb quality that I occasionally find in 2017. A touch of salinity here. Myrtilles for him, reinforces the red soil. Quite tightly wound. Tasted Nov 2018.

92-94

William Kelley

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

The 2017 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru is also unusually saturated in hue this year, though Millet reports having done no more pigeage than usual. Offering up aromas of dark cherries, wild berries, cassis, dark chocolate, peony and caramelized orange rind, the wine is medium to full-bodied, ample and elegantly fine boned, with chalky structuring tannins, a pure core of fruit and a long, fragrant finish. Despite its disconcertingly deep hue this is one of the most supple, elegant renditions of the de Vogüé Bonnes Mares in the last decade. François Millet began the harvest at Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé on September 2, having worked hard throughout the growing season to limit the generous potential yields provided by vines that suffered hard in the 2016 frosts. He succeeded in delaying malolactic fermentations until the following summer, and the resulting wines are unusually saturated in hue—to the extent that Millet was anxious to emphasize that he hadn't sought to extract more than usual. Readers will know the by now well-established rudiments of winemaking here: destemmed grapes, slow fermentations emphasizing pumping over—with pigeage reserved solely for the Bonnes Mares, delayed malolactic fermentations and élevage with one racking. 01/2019