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Tasting notes
A concentration of wild tiny berries red and black seems to inform the nose and palate of Mugnier’s 2007 Bonnes Mares, with pungent brown spices, medicinal herbal concentrates, and game adding site-typical complexity. The compactness here seems to mirror the wine’s flavor concentration, and an underlying note of crushed stone lends a hint of austerity in the long, bittersweet finish. All in all, this is hardly a typical representative of its vintage, and I am willing to believe that its relatively unevolved but impressive personality presages a decade or more of fascinating potential. Frederic Mugnier’s 2008s – which I last tasted shortly before their March bottling – did not experience the exceptionally late malo-lactic transformation that characterized so many wines of that vintage. Yields were especially low thanks not only to vintage-typical millerandage, but – particularly in the case of Les Amoureuses – to the vines’ slow recovery from the shock of 2007 hail. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011-333-80-24-29-70
Critic scores
Average Score
David Schildknecht, Vinous
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Pale, bright medium red. Reticent but complex nose combines red fruits, brown spices and red licorice. Sweet, rich, pliant Bonnes-Mares with excellent volume and depth to its red fruit flavors. Can't match the 2006 version for complexity or thrust, but the rich, building finish nonetheless shows good power for the year. At this point in our tasting, Mugnier noted that his 2007s resemble his 2000s, while the 2008s are more like the 2001s.
Good bright, full red. Vibrant, pure aromas of blueberry, violet, crushed stone and minerals. Juicy and classically dry, with tightly wound berry and floral flavors and a firm tannic spine. A pretty, pure wine that's very Chambolle in style but seems a bit slight for grand cru. Finishes firm and rather closed in on itself, with evidence of oak tannins. This is aging in one-third new oak, vs. about 20% for the other wines here-but my sample was from a 1999 barrel!
Transparent cherry red. Great finesse and subtlety – not perhaps the most typical Bonnes Mares, with notably low acidity. The finish was pretty strict in Nov 2008 but there was just so much silky fruit on the way there... This should mature relatively early – could it do with just a tad more freshness? (JR)