2014 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru

While Frédéric Mugnier never claimed that the 2014s had powerful structures, he noted that the wines gained in intensity during their last months of élevage. He eventually bottled them in June of 2016. “Today they’re delicious and attractive—better than I expected,” he told me in November. These wines may well give great pleasure early if they don't shut down in bottle, but their minerality should keep them young for a long time. Mugnier’s top ‘14s offer stunning definition and it’s hard to believe that they won’t reward at least 10 to 15 years of cellaring.

While Frédéric Mugnier never claimed that the 2014s had powerful structures, he noted that the wines gained in intensity during their last months of élevage He eventually bottled them in June of 2016 “Today they’re delicious and attractive—better than I expected,” he told me in November These wines may well give great pleasure early if they don't shut down in bottle, but their minerality should keep them young for a long time Mugnier’s top ‘14s offer stunning definition and it’s hard to believe that they won’t reward at least 10 to 15 years of cellaring

While some producers plan to bottle their 2014s a bit earlier than usual, Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier believes that they will need a longer time in barrel to stabilize. Still, he added, the wines have fairly light structures and are not too tannic, and they are fruity and attractive. Very wet weather in July triggered unusually early botrytis, said Mugnier, and pourriture acide was visible in the vines from the middle of August. But it was still easy to eliminate in the vineyards by the pickers, he added. In the end, Mugnier made a normal crop of "up to 35 hectoliters per hectare." He used less SO2 than usual in the fermenter but more later on. All of the 2014s were racked about two weeks prior to my November visit.

As you might expect, after he discussed the potential problems of the vintage, Mugnier showed me a very pure and gripping set of 2014s.