95-97

Neal Martin

Vinous

The 2018 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is armed with precocious black cherries, cassis, crushed violets and a touch of iodine on the nose, aromatics that have no intention of holding back. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, wonderful precision and sense of energy. Almost playful toward the very pure, sensual, vivid finish. This is a superb "BM" from Louis Jadot and it should offer 30-plus years of pleasure. 11/2019

92-95

Jasper Morris

Inside Burgundy

Rich dense purple. A touch of torrefaction to the nose, ripe grapes sitting in toasty barrels. Huge intensity with happily enough acidity, otherwise this might topple over. Some black fruit, more coffee than chocolate. Tasted Nov 2019.

93-95

William Kelley

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

The 2018 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru (Domaine Louis Jadot) offers up a deep bouquet of raspberries, wild berries, ripe cherries, dark chocolate and rose petals. On the palate, it's full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with succulent acids, fine-grained structuring tannins and a long, mineral finish. "We were never worried about the red wines in 2018," explained Jadot's Frédéric Barnier, "but we worked hard with the white wines—blocking a lot of malolactic—to make them fresh and lively. Of course," he added, "the high yields helped retain freshness by retarding ripening." Anyone who has tasted with Barnier knows that he tends to come to the point, and those succinct comments are in fact a great summation of Jadot's 2018 vintage: beautifully balanced reds and whites that are impressively vibrant and precise. This was by some margin the largest range of wines I tasted from any producer in the 2018 vintage: that it was also one of the most consistent speaks volumes about the attention to detail and technical expertise of Barnier and his team. "Operating on a large scale, we know how important it is to ensure wines go dry and to avoid stuck fermentations; and we avoid cross-contamination and taste the wines regularly during élevage, so we don't have issues with brettanomyces," explained Barnier. And evidently, what Jadot's team know well, some smaller domaines have had to learn the hard way with the 2018 vintage. As the accompanying notes indicate, Jadot's 2018 portfolio offers rich pickings, and there are plenty of cuvées here that merit consideration. This important firm is a credit to contemporary Burgundy. 01/2020