2008 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru

This is a beautiful set of wines from Bruno Clair. Every wine I tasted with Clair's longtime oenologist Philippe Brun was gorgeous from top to bottom. While the top 2009s are certainly superb, the real jewels here are the village level wines which appear to be among the great success stories of the 2009 vintage. I tasted all of the wines from barrel, except the Marsannay and Marsannay Les Vaudanelles, both of which were bottled before the 2010 harvest. In 2009 Clair began harvesting on September 15 and ended on the 23rd. I also tasted a handful of 2008s, from a much later harvest that stretched into October. The handful of wines I tasted from that vintage are equally impressive, and equally worth your time.

Clair delayed harvesting in 2008 until September 30, then picked until October 14, doing a sorting in the vines, especially to eliminate pink grapes. He told me that he lost 20% of his volume due to the wind during the second half of September and that the typical 2008 began with potential alcohol of 12.2% to 12.7%, although the range was actually quite extreme: from 10% to 13.5%. Following very late malos, the premier and grand crus-but not the village wines-had been racked and sulfited just a week or two prior to my visit. The 2008s are characterized by their strawberry and raspberry elements, said Clair, while the 2007s are more about black fruits. "But 2008 has great aging potential," he believes. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)