Musigny and Bonnes Mares.....and the wine of the evening is?

17 September 2015: For Part 3 of the Musigny dinner (Richard and I had missed Part 2), we decided to vary the theme slightly by including Bonnes Mares for some interesting comparative tasting. After a tough selection (thanks to everyone's generosity), we reluctantly narrowed down to 9 bottles, with the oldest vintage being 1978 and the youngest 1995.

Musigny has a total area of just under 11 ha, between 260 and 300 ha and is situated at the southern end of the Chambolle village, overlooking Clos de Vougeot and Les Amoureuses. There are 3 distinct parcels to Musigny, in order from north to south - Les Grands Musigny (5.9 ha), Les Petits Musigny (just under 4.2 ha) and La Combe d'Orveau (around 0.7 ha). Comte Georges de Vogüé has the entire holding in Les Petits Musigny with about 40% of Les Grands Musigny. Except Jacques Prieur which has its holding in La Combe d'Orveau, all the other domaines (I counted 8) have their Musigny holdings in Les Grands Musigny. The soil in general is clay-rich clay-limestone, with small stones to help drainage. The lower slopes are based on hard Comblanchien marble/limestone, making it tough work for the vine roots. Upper slopes are more porous. The domaines would typically have vines planted along the slopes for a complete expression. Musigny is noted for its distinct perfume and a velvety texture that belies a robust character and persistent strength.

Bonnes Mares on the other hand is at the northern end of Chambolle and has a total area of 15 ha, with about 13.5 ha in Chambolle, and 1.5 ha in Morey. There are many more producers of Bonnes Mares - I counted 23. Bonnes Mares typically has a more sauvage and earthy character than Musigny, and a stewed fruit/plum character, rather than pure red fruit.

Here are my tasting notes - we tasted from old to young - none decanted, all opened between 7:30 and 8 pm:

1978 Musigny, Comte Georges de Vogüé (US strip label): Such enthralling aromatics of mushroom, truffle, cinnamon, spice and earthy. Sensuous texture, but a little weak structurally, with a slightly hollow mid-palate and short of the lingering finish that one would expect of such great wine. Drink now (within 3 - 5 years); no positive upside can be expected from further cellaring. (17/20)


1978 Bonnes Mares, Comte Georges de Vogüé: A more earthy and sous-bois dominated bouquet. All aspects seamless integrated into a classically delineated structure that delivers restrained opulence balanced by freshness, mouthcoating flavours, robust structure and lingering finish. A wine at its peak of development. Drink now and over the next 8 - 10 years! (18/20)

1989 Musigny, Comte Georges de Vogüé (US strip label): The underlying good quality material disappointingly marred by brettanomyces, some volatile acidity, lacking in generosity on the palate and finishes dry.



1990 Musigny, Jacques Prieur: A classy bouquet of spice, dark cherry, savoury and animal notes, displaying rich ripe fruit and an understated elegance befitting of the vintage and its Grand Cru status. Great poise and perfectly balanced, with a very long finish. A wine that promises further ageing potential, of 10 - 15+ years! This was agreed by all as the wine that delivered the most upside surprise on the evening! (18.5/20)


1990 Musigny, JF Mugnier: This was much less evolved than the Prieur. Rich powerful nose and palate, with meaty and dark cherry notes, and still very primary. I detected a whiff of volatile acidity and a metallic undertone...but not sufficient to deflect our appreciation of its class, power and style. A wine to revisit in 5 years time? (17.5+/20)

1993 Bonnes Mares, d'Auvenay: unfortunately, this bottle had distinct bovril notes and signs of volatile acidity.


1993 Bonnes Mares, Robert Groffier (the owner of the bottle told us that it was a recent release by the domaine, hence the unusual wax capsule): for me, this was the wine of the evening. I scored it the highest. Alluring bouquet of coffee, spice, earth, mushroom and sous-bois notes. A wine that exudes freshness, energy, voluptuous ripe fruit, balance and a sense of harmony. Finishes very long. Drink now and over the next 10 -15 years. (19/20)

1995 Bonnes Mares, Georges Roumier: Classy bouquet and structure, with elegant poise and balance. Pure sweet fruit lines the palate, complemented by well-built freshness. The Groffier had just much more persistence, well-delineated structure and elegance at this evening's tasting. (18/20)


1995 Musigny, Georges Roumier: sadly another bottle with issues of volatile acidity and microbial spoilage.


The top 3 wines for the group were:

1978 Bonnes Mares, Comte Georges de Vogüé
1993 Bonnes Mares, Robert Groffier
1990 Musigny, Jacques Prieur


Quite a shame that 3 bottles out of 9 suffered from spoilage, one form or another.......and the sad thing is we could not have foretold their fates by judging from the condition of the cork, the level of the wine and sometimes the condition of storage (too much dampness?). Ultimately patience is rewarded in many a case of great wines.....let's just call the spoilage along the way part of the overall cost of investment?!

P.S. During a recent stay at Gerard Basset's Hotel Terravina in the New Forest in the UK, we tried a bottle of 2006 Bonnes Mares, Hudelot-Baillet.  We had never heard of this domaine before.  The domaine was established in 1981 by Joel Hudelot, together with his wife Chantal Baillet. Now run by Joel's son-in-law Dominique Le Guen since the former's retirement in 2004, the domaine has taken great steps to improve the quality of wine from 8.5 hectares of vineyards, including much lower yields, and sustainable viticulture. Dominique practices cool pre-maceration before punching down in the early stages.  He then moves to more gentle pump over and also delestage for avoid extraction of harsh tannins from the pips. 50% new oak and 50% 1-year barrels for the Premier and Grand Cru wines.  Elevage in oak between 12 and 18 months.  Since 2002, the wines have been bottled unfiltered.  

The 2006 Bonnes Mares showed a deep colour, rich ripe and pure fruit, starting to display some tertiary development, a well-integrated structure with intrinsic minerality and balance, but perhaps lacked the aromatic and flavour complexity, depth and lingering finish of the better examples of Bonnes Mares. It was nonetheless a beautiful expression and a reasonable value for this Grand Cru!  Gerard told us it was his last bottle!  Hopefully, he will have replenished his wine list with another interesting wine on our next visit.

And I should mention that we also tried a 2012 Rully Premier Cru Grésigny by Paul et Marie Jacqueson.  I last tried wines by this domaine during my visit to Bourgogne in June.  It really was a great example of Rully!  Mineral, almost flinty, with fine citrus and almond notes, well-judged acidity, well-balanced and a nice long crisp finish!  We loved it!

(To read more, please refer to: http://vinumetvita.blogspot.hk/2015/06/climats-de-la-cote-chalonnaise.html)