Wine Advisor
Olivier Bernstein, Bonnes Mares Grand Cru 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright medium red. Red berry aromas complicated by musky game and soil tones and lifted by white pepper, flowers and savory herbs. A wonderfully deep, penetrating grand cru with outstanding inner-mouth saline minerality and piquant notes of pepper, flowers, spices and herbs. Great energy and precision here, not to mention transparency to soil. Still a bit youthfully imploded but already conveys an impression of superb balance and the tannins are utterly smooth. The wonderfully stimulating, salty, resounding finish stains the palate and leaves the mouth perfumed. Will this wine shut down in bottle?
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(from the Chambolle side above de Vogüé's holding, according to Bernstein): Bright, dark nose. Wild, soil-inflected aromas of raspberry, mulch, roast coffee and musky minerality, lifted by a topnote of blood orange. Boasts outstanding urgency to its red berry and spice flavors but this compellingly juicy wine is tighter and more imploded today than the Clos de la Roche, and hiding its inherent sweetness of fruit. Finishes very long and vibrant, with substantial ripe, serious tannins. Should make a classic example of this typically long-lived grand cru.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Bright medium red. Red berry aromas complicated by musky game and soil tones and lifted by white pepper, flowers and savory herbs. A wonderfully deep, penetrating grand cru with outstanding inner-mouth saline minerality and piquant notes of pepper, flowers, spices and herbs. Great energy and precision here, not to mention transparency to soil. Still a bit youthfully imploded but already conveys an impression of superb balance and the tannins are utterly smooth. The wonderfully stimulating, salty, resounding finish stains the palate and leaves the mouth perfumed. Will this wine shut down in bottle?
About the Producer
Located in the Gevery-Chambertin region of Burgundy, France, Olivier Bernstein is a winery dedicated to making small-lot, high-quality wines. Château Bernstein was founded by Olivier Bernstein. Born into a musical family, Olivier originally worked in international management. After working in Europe, Asia and the Americas, he felt a strong connection between wine and his native France and began to work part-time in vineyard management, grape harvesting and winemaking. Olivier's interest in wine grew and led to a degree in viticulture and winemaking at Beaune. In 2002, at the age of 35, Olivier finally became a winemaker, having tasted the wines of all the great Burgundy estates and studying under Henri Jayer. He bought 8 hectares of old vine vineyards in Tautavel, Roussillon, and created Mas de la Deveze. In 2007, Olivier created Château Bernstein under his own name. Château Bernstein is dedicated to making small-lot, high-quality Grand Cru and Premier Cru Burgundy wines. The winery favours old vine grapes because of their excellent balance and low yields. In order to obtain high quality, healthy grapes, the Château carries out root aeration, canopy management and flower and fruit thinning as required during the vine growing. Once ripe, the grapes at Château Bernstein are picked by hand and transported separately in small trays back to the cellar, where they are sorted a second time. The winery adjusts its winemaking process according to the quality of the vintage. The harvested grapes are destemmed and macerated at low temperature for 6-7 days, with regular drenching and, if necessary, treading of the skins during fermentation. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is matured in new French oak barrels made by Stephane Chassin, the famous oak barrel maker. The wines are not filtered or clarified before bottling. Château Bernstein offers a wide range of Grand Cru and Premier Cru Burgundy wines, which are of excellent quality and are very popular with consumers, with some wines being ordered before they are even released.
