Domaine Denis Mortet Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru 2020 0,75L

ROBERT PARKER ” The fireworks continue with the 2020 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru, a striking wine that unfurls in the glass with aromas of pomegranate and red cherries mingled with sweet spices, rose petals and blood orange. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, it’s deep and concentrated, with lively acids, melting tannins and a long, perfumed finish. ”

Arnaud Mortet, it must be said, doesn’t number among Burgundy’s most alacritous correspondents. So, when my request to visit last year went unanswered, I didn’t take it personally. This year, we caught up on some bottled 2019s and barrel samples of 2020s, while Arnaud recovered from the arduous La Paulée de Meursault the day before. Everything seems to be in place at this address: thoughtful viticulture, with cultivated soils, high hedging (at 1.5 meters, the limit more or less of an over-row tractor) and thoughtful rather than systematic deleafing, followed by winemaking that increasingly emphasizes manually processed grapes, with the rachis of each cluster cut out by hand, leaving berries on their pedicels intact. In the cellar, François Frères is ceding ground to Cavin, but without any concomitant shift in style in the direction of the overtly meretricious. In profile, the wines are supple and perfumed, with plenty of depth and flesh at the core, without any structural asperity. They’re wines that could be drunk young—as no doubt they are drunk by many consumers today—but which will age with grace too. In short, Mortet is at the top of his game today and settled into his contemporary style, and everything reviewed here comes recommended.