Priceless: Roumier Bonnes-Mares 1945 - 2015
BY NEAL MARTIN |
The elation that follows your firstborn child is entangled with trepidation, roiling emotions, fear of the unknown and a level of fatigue you never knew existed. You survive the first night on a couple of hours kip and then the following morning it hits you... You have to go through it all again... without the novelty...for eternity. Life. Is. (Insert expletive). Over. Only the euphoria of parenthood sees you through. I vividly recall our first night of normality when my daughter’s sleep serendipitously coincided with dinner. It must have been February 2005 when we were living in a rabbit hutch-cum-terraced flat in South London. I told my wife that this was the first and perhaps last time we could raise a toast to our addition towards the human race and it demanded a special bottle. Diving into the disused coalbunker where I kept my small but useful stash, I surfaced and decanted the wine. “I picked up a couple of these for £80,” I informed, sloshing Pinot into the carafe. “It’s a bit expensive. But Roumier’s 1985 Bonnes-Mares should be drinking nicely...”
Thirteen years later. That tiny bundle of joy is now a teenager. We moved out of the rabbit hutch. Christophe Roumier became a superstar. He has gone from a highly respected vigneron to poster boy for a new generation of aficionados that have swarmed towards the Côte d’Or, fuelling demand that outstrips supply by unthinkable multiples. I recall tasting the 2005 Musigny from barrel during which Christophe Roumier divulged that a recent visitor had implored him to sell the entire production of one and a quarter barrels. All Roumier had to do was name his price. Any price. It was a portent. I checked the market price of that 1985 Bonnes-Mares. Today it would set me back over £3,000 and in the time it has taken me to write this sentence, it has probably gone up even further. Indeed, all of Christophe Roumier’s wines cost not just an arm and a leg, but all your limbs and those of the person sitting next to you.
The Bonnes-Mares assembled at the London tasting
When a winemaker reaches status of a deity, as uncomfortably as that might fit someone as self-effacing and humble as Christophe Roumier, then too often their wines attain an unimpeachable air, their value inveigling wine-lovers and critics alike to overlook shortcomings. Sometimes it is vice versa and the chorus of approval becomes the bulwark against which to aim unfair criticism, to pull it down from its pedestal and preen about your recalcitrance.
This article seeks to take an objective look at the domaine and its wines, to adjudge where the wines deserve deification and where criticism is due. Do not expect high scores to rain down on everything that Roumier has touched. That does not reflect a winemaker who has been refreshingly critical of his own wines that articulate their respective terroirs and vagaries of growing seasons, warts ‘n all. It is built around one of the most comprehensive verticals of Bonnes-Mares you will ever read: more than 30 vintages spanning over 70 years and three generations of winemaking. The notes derive from two verticals, one in Hong Kong at the Mandarin Oriental Grill organized by the “crazy gang” of oenophiles. The other held in London, organized by Jordi Oriols-Gil last February, attended by Christophe Roumier himself. To whet your appetite, it includes a complete run of vintages from 1988 to 2002, the 1988 Bonnes-Mares and 1988 Vieilles Vignes juxtaposed not once but twice (both blind) with an explanation of their differences, a revisit of the aforementioned 1985, though this time comparing bottle against magnum, rare ancient vintages including two postwar gems from Roumier’s own reserve and one minor revelation. I add additional tasting notes including the 2002s tasted blind in Hong Kong and miscellaneous other notes culled from various recent dinners.
Basically this is the mother of Roumier articles.
So let’s set the scene and recount how Domaine Georges Roumier came to be.
History
Georges Roumier was born in Dun-Les-Places in 1898. In 1924 he married Geneviève Quanquin whose dowry contained vineyards in Chambolle-Musigny that included Bonnes-Mares. These crus were expanded via additional purchases, a métayage in Musigny and the Quanquin’s own independent négoçiant business. Crucially, he bought a third-share of Domaine Belorgey in 1952 that augmented another parcel in Bonnes-Mares, followed by two plots in Clos de Vougeot and the monopole of Clos de la Bussière in 1953. The Domaine was and still is located in the heart of Chambolle village next door to Frédéric Mugnier. The couple had five boys and two girls, which meant that even with the expanded vineyard there were no vacancies for all their brood and so the eldest son, Alain Roumier, began a successful tenure as régisseur at Comtes de Vogüé in 1955. Christophe Roumier told me that his own father, Georges’ third son Jean-Marie, began working at the Domaine around 1954/1955 (something to consider when you peruse my notes). Georges retired in 1961 and passed away four years later, upon which the siblings wisely formed a société civile in order to prevent the Domaine from splitting up.
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Christophe Roumier is one of the most revered winemakers in Burgundy. His wines are coveted across the world. This article examines the history of Domaine Georges Roumier, Christophe’s techniques and focuses upon his flagship cru, Bonnes-Mares. Spanning no less than eight decades and over 30 vintages, this vertical tasting constitutes one of the most comprehensive overviews ever conducted, one that might never be repeated.
