2017 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru Domaine Hudelot-Baillet

Rich concentrated purple, notable depth of fruit, solid and weighty and suggestive of much more to follow. This does have everything it should have, a youthful succulence, the best acid balance of the flight, tannins in balance, and properly persistent. A touch of volatility now starts to show.

The 2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru, of which there are two-and-a-half barrels this year, has an intense bouquet of blackberry, blueberry, pressed violets and hints of crushed stone, and feels very controlled and focused. The ripe, vibrant palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and shimmering black fruit laced with orange sorbet and Japanese yuzu. This is a quintessential, zinging Bonnes-Mares, very well crafted and with impressive persistence on the finish.

From a parcel on the Chambolle side at the top of the slope, the 2017 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru offers up pretty aromas of wild berries, dark chocolate, warm spices and dried flowers. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit that largely conceals its fine-grained but chalky structuring tannins. I expect it to land at the upper end of my bracketed score.

Reduction hides the fruit today. There is slightly better concentration to the moderately bigger and richer medium weight flavors that possess an attractive texture, all wrapped in a youthfully austere, delicious and balanced finale. This isn't a big Bonnes Mares but it is harmonious and sufficiently well- structured to reward a decade plus of cellaring. 2029+