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Description
Tasting notes

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Deep red-ruby. Wild blueberry, blackberry, licorice and herbs on the nose, with piquant accents of black pepper and violet building with air. Dense, juicy and youthfully imploded, with dark berry flavors complicated by game and leather nuances. Doesn't show the sweetness or early volume of the Amoureuses but this very silky, seamless wine softened nicely with aeration. Really saturates the mouth and builds on the juicy back end.

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(70% vendange entier; one-third new oak): Bright, dark red. Very dark aromas of blackberry, blueberry and boysenberry complicated by mocha, pepper, mint, crushed stone and underbrush. Dense, broad and sappy, showing a restrained sweetness and outstanding incipient complexity to the flavors of red and dark fruits, pepper, rosemary and thyme. The wine's creamy texture and considerable fat are leavened by underlying minerality. Finishes with substantial but suave tongue-dusting tannins and terrific length, leaving lavender and blackberry scents behind in the empty glass. The Groffiers have more red soil than white in their Bonnes-Mares parcel but Nicolas told me he's making this wine more like a Chambolle than a Morey.

Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru was showing quite a lot of fruit extraction on the nose, darker than the Bonnes-Mares from either Bruno Clair or Domaine de la Vougeraie: blackberry and wild strawberry scents mixed with sous-bois and tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a fine line of acidity with good density. This is a mouth-filling and voluminous Bonnes-Mares with a tarty, spicy finish that suggests this should age well in bottle. Tasted September 2016.

Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted blind at the Burgfest tasting in Beaune, the 2013 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru was showing quite a lot of fruit extraction on the nose, darker than the Bonnes-Mares from either Bruno Clair or Domaine de la Vougeraie: blackberry and wild strawberry scents mixed with sous-bois and tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, a fine line of acidity with good density. This is a mouth-filling and voluminous Bonnes-Mares with a tarty, spicy finish that suggests this should age well in bottle. Tasted September 2016.
About the Producer
The Groffier family are among the best wine makers in the Côte de Nuits. Originally founded by Robert Groffier’s father, Jules in the 1950s, the domaine is now run by Robert’s grandson, Nicolas. The domaine consists of almost 8 ha of fine vineyards, including 1 ha of Bonnes Mares, almost 0.5 ha of Chambertin Clos de Bèze and a full 1 ha of Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses (the biggest single owner of this vineyard). The wine making technique is flexible and the proportion of stems to be retained is decided annually. nowadays, up to 20% of stems are retained, compared to 50% 20 years ago. The destemed grapes are transferred to stainless steel vats without crushing and cooled to 10-12 degrees so the natural yeast fermentation starts 4-5 days later – to allow further extraction of colour from the skins. Frequent short pigeages are done, and the temperature is allowed to rise up to 35 degrees – which retains even more colour to the liquid. After 17-20 days maceration, the temperature descends to 20-22 degrees and after pressing age in oak, the percentage of new one vary per cuvée and vintage – from none to the Bourgogne to up to 100% for the grand crus. The wines are only racked once, usually only a year after the vintage. The wines return to vat as the new vintage is put into barrel, so only one vintage is in barrel at any time. The wines are bottled without fining or filtration.