Our wine-club organized a blind tasting of 12 Bonnes Mares (Grand Cru Rouge Bourgogne) from 2006 . I know this is early and probably to an extend infanticide, but hey, we had great fun and learned a lot. Bonnes Mares is a powerful wine but, it was hard to find a lot of common elements. Lots of alcohol, power,violets, length and a striking and memorable aroma of peeled orange skin could be discovered. But more : 12 very different expressions from a good terroir. (Good, not great. I prefer the elegance of grand cru Vosne… at these prices).
We were nine tasters. The score below is an average score. Except for the Dujac, scores were remarkably similar among tasters.
The wines were double decanted at noon (e.g. bottle to decanter to bottle ), left open in the bottle in a cool spot and then tasted, starting at 8.30 pm. We tried to taste them at the same temperature. As it was a fairly warm evening, the last bottles were shortly submerged in cool water.
Wine 1 : modern style nose, very intens, very fruity with lots of alcohol, but slightly medicinal and frankly: where is the balance ? Av. Score : 89/100 COMTE de VOGUE
Wine 2 : great nose of intense red fruit and spices, stemmy, good length but lacks sweetness, good not great! Av score : 91/100 POTEL
Wine 3 : very elegant nose of violets, silky wine with great lenght; crunchy tannins in the finish reveal a great future to this wine, super. Av Score : 94,2. ROUMIER
Wine 4 : in the same style as nr 3, but slightly less elegant with a more apparent woody nose and slight extraction, intens. Best qpr probably. Av score : 91/100 . DROUHIN LAROZE
Wine 5 : purple color almost, very sweet nose, modern style, is this Pinot or Cote du Rhone? not interesting . Av score : 89/100 MUGNIER
Wine 6 : powerful and complex, still elegant, alcohol is very present, robust style, silky texture; I like this, needs 15 years cellar time I think. Av score :94,1/100 ROBERT GROFFIER
Wine 7 : slight woody nose, pure and mineral, great lenght, also very powerful wine, same style as the previous one and even more restrained today, great wine. Av score : 92,4 Henri BOILLOT
Wine 8 : an ugly nose of acids and sprits, very bitter, is this a good bottle ? Av score : 83/100 BERTHEAU
Wine 9 : not enough fruit, too much alcohol, drying finish, not in balance. Av score : 87/100 BRUNO CLAIR
Wine 10 : modern style, still a bit purple, not a Pinot nose, crunchy tannins with excellent lenght, lacks typicity, still very good. Av score 92/100 LUCIEN LEMOINE
Wine 11 : very pure and powerful, a bit of a modern style, but real Pinot, has great lenght, a wine for the ages, will go 30 + years. Av score : 94,4/100 JADOT
Wine 12 : the only controversial wine. I thought this had way too much wood, was too sweet , “un vrai vin de pute”… others liked it more. Av score 89/100 DUJAC
So the top five wines of the group were: Jadot , Roumier , Groffier , Boillot and Le Moine. My top five was more or less the same.
We finished the evening with two .Bonnes Mares from the average vintage 1986: de Vogue and Roumier. We liked the Vogue a little , not the Roumier.
But then came the 1969 Bonnes Mares from de Vogue: elegant sweet nose of pure truffle, spices, leather. Still great at age 40. A masterpiece and proof good Bonnes Mares needs a lot of bottle age. Easily the highest scoring wine of the evening. Certainly 96+.
We finished the evening with a glorious Gilette from the super 1959 vintage. A night to remember!