| Score: |
96+ JG.
"It is a total crime to be opening a bottle of Christophe’s ’96 Bonnes-Mares at this point in time, unless one needs a bottle to go with the cheese course (which was the case when I last tasted this bottle in Beaune in January of 2002, when our magnum of 1961 Drouhin Bonnes-Mares was compromised by a bad cork and proven to be maderized). The bouquet is deep and still very primary, but with the complexity and layering that is already a hallmark of the top 1996s. The nose offers up a potpourri of black cherry, plum, vinesmoke, a bit of game, strong minerality, mustard seed, espresso and a hint of cedary wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and laser-like in its focus, with a rock solid core of fruit, terrific acid and tannic balance, and tremendous length and grip on the intensely flavored and complex finish. This is such a puppy today, but it is certainly destined to be one of the great reference points of the 1996 vintage." John Gilman, View From the Cellar, Bonus Articles, Georges Roumier |