2022 Domaine Georges Roumier Bonnes Mares Grand Cru

“An intense mid purple, the bouquet just made me burst into smiles at first sniff. This wine is always too multi-faceted to admit of simple fruit descriptors. There are quite a few berries in the bowl. Some fresh red fruit then much darer notes, I turn lightened up by the peppery notes to finish. This really kicks on magically behind! 75-80 whole bunch vinification. Drink from 2035-2045+.” (01/2024)

“The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru is deep and resonant, unfurling in the glass with aromas of raspberries and red cherries mingling with rose petal, Indian spices and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, layered and concentrated, it's dense and multidimensional, yet it avoids the hulking muscularity of which this cuvée is capable, retaining a cool core of fruit and concluding with a long, sapid finish. Roumier prefers his more ethereal (and more overtly whole-cluster inflected) Amoureuses, but I gravitate towards the profound Bonnes-Mares. Christophe Roumier and I had been star-crossed in recent years, missing our 2021 rendezvous, thanks to a COVID-19 case, and our 2022 appointment due to a family emergency, so it was good to catch up with him this winter to taste his embryonic 2022s and bottled 2021s in Chambolle-Musigny. Despite producing a number of hulking, muscular vintages in the last few years, Roumier remains faithful to an elegant vision of red Burgundy, and he's quite candid about preferring his 2017s to his 2018s, and his 2021s to his 2020s. So it's all the more satisfying that, as he nears retirement, he has produced a brilliant back-to-back duo in 2021 and 2022, the latter ranging from 13.2 to 13.7% alcohol. While Roumier tries to delay his malolactic fermentations, he didn't succeed in 2022, and I can't help wondering if that also contributes to the harmonious, integrated profile of the wines. Whatever the reason, however, this tasting reminded me just how great these win” (01/2024)

“The 2022 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru includes 75% whole bunches, but you cannot detect a stem on the nose. This is an ebullient bouquet with exquisite black cherries, wild strawberry fruit, crushed violet, and hints of inkwell. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins. There’s real backbone here and layers of mineral-rich red and blue fruit. The finish that fans out gloriously with lip-smacking salinity. Stunning.(NM)” (01/2024)

“Note: from six different parcels totaling 1.89 ha that are divided between 30% terres rouges and 70% terres blanches. A more deeply pitched nose features notes of spiced plum, newly turned earth and violet hints. The powerful and solidly concentrated big-bodied flavors brim with sappy dry extract that imparts a suave character to the mid-palate while also buffering the very firm tannic spine shaping the equally persistent finish. This is also superb and equally highly recommended.*Burghound Don't Miss!*” (01/2024)