2023 Bonnes Mares

The 2023 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru contains 30% whole cluster like the previous year. It was one of the shy wines at the beginning of barrel aging, according to head winemaker Frédéric Barnier. Those stems add another dimension to the bouquet: dark berry fruit, hints of pepper and freshly rolled tobacco blossom in the glass with impressive vigor. The palate is ravishing and succulent on the entry with filigreed tannins, a keen line of acidity-perhaps the purest of all of Jadot's red cuvées-and just the right amount of lushness on the finish. There's structure here, but it is cloaked in gorgeous fruit. Bon vin! As tradition dictates, I undertook a comprehensive tasting of around 100 wines from Louis Jadot at the winery in Beaune, divided into two sessions for the white and red. Readers should note that I interviewed head winemaker Frédéric Barnier. "The wines are 0.5% higher in alcohol in 2023 than 2022, but with exactly the same level of acidity," he adds, after I had filmed the video. "Everything from our own vineyards was around 13.5% while some fruit that we bought was over 14%. Many of the vines resisted excessive sugar accumulation. We introduced foudres so there is less oxygen whilst using the same level of SO2. The challenge was the purity of both the reds and the whites. The fermentation was not so easy for the latter, and we stopped the malolactic a little earlier. There is 0.8gm/L malic acid on 2022 and 1.1gm/L in 2023. There is 0.5% more alcohol but with the same acidity as the 2022."

30% whole bunch vinification in both the Chambolle Grands Crus. The colour is a little more sombre at the edges and the oak shows more. This is on the dour side for Bonnes Mares, with tannins, Brawny and brambly, suggesting a higher pH. While there is no problem about the weight of fruit, the Bonnes Mares is not singing today.