2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru

Bruno Clair and Philippe Brun are the Batman and Robin of Marsannay that have really ratcheted up quality at this domaine. Both were on top form when I dropped in at their winery (though my God, whatever Bruno had just eaten for lunch, it was making his tummy rumble like Krakatoa!) “We had a lot of rain in the winter," he told me. "It was completely different to the 2019 growing season. In 2018 the maturity was quite strong. We started the picking on 27 August until the 8 or 9 September. I find that the tannins are very tender. Maybe you could say 2018 is a mixture of 1947 and 1959. There is more fruit than in 2003 and more phenolic maturity. The whole bunch in 2018 is between 30-40% as in 2017 and we did less pigeage after fermentation. The alcohol is between 13 and 14% but most are around 13.5%." I strongly recommend this domaine's wines, with some gems among the Premier Crus.

This year, Philippe Brun escorted me through the domaine’s 2017s. Once known for its intermittently rustic wines, there is a sense of newfound refinement and elegance that has seen Bruno Clair gain a wider and well-deserved following. This is partly because they have eased off the extraction and picked just a little earlier. They oversee a strong portfolio of cuvées, not just their Grand Crus and prized rows within Clos Saint-Jacques, but a cluster of excellent Village and Premier Crus that can offer great value. Brun told me that they commenced the picking on September 5 and picked over the following five days - quite a short harvest given their range of holdings. None of the wines had been racked when I visited, and they plan to blend the cuvées in January.

This was a very fine set of wines from Bruno Clair, though one or two, such as the Gevrey-Chambertin Petite Chapelle and perhaps the Cazetiers and Clos Saint-Jacques, left me wondering if they could have given more. It was another Gevrey-Chambertin – the 0.68-hectare monopole of Clos du Fonteny, which rises on a geological ledge a few meters above the rest of Fonteny – that really caught my eye, alongside a very impressive Marsannay Les Grasses-Têtes and a superb Bonnes-Mares that crowns their range. Generally, I found assiduous use of whole bunches here and a collection of wines that range from the easygoing to others that boast long-term potential.