The 2013 Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru, from a single parcel on the Chambolle side, has a rather opaque bouquet at the moment: broody dark berry fruit interlaced with iodine and violets. The palate is medium-bodied with touches of mocha and dark chocolate on the entry. Here, the oak comes through quite strongly, and tends to obscure the terroir on the finish. See what this does after 4-5 years in bottle and to allow the oak to fully integrate. Although I have tasted Henri Boillot’s wines for many years, usually at one of their London agent’s offices, I have never actually visited the winery itself, located on the “other” side of the RN74 in an estate that includes the Damy cooperage. This impressive facility affords Henri far more space then if he were couched in some medieval maison in one of the villages, which is mandatory when you have such an all-embracing portfolio of wines. Of course, he is a scion of the Boillot family who established themselves in the region in 1885. Henri represents the fifth winemaking generation and on this visit he was accompanied by the sixth in the form of his son Guillaume, who has graduated from his viticulture studies. The portfolio of what you might call this “mini-négoce” is impressive, studded with a number of Grand Crus, spanning red and white. In 2013, he told me that he picked September 27 until October 5, yields incredibly low, hovering between 12 and 16 hectoliters per hectare. Henri seemed enraptured by the 2013s, describing them as having a “big definition of terroir.” That is true, though as usual his use of new oak means that in their youth, that tends to be slightly obscured by the wood and they require time to assimilate that oak. As Henri was keen to stress, he uses mainly 350-liter barrels that lessen their impact. Something to bear in mind when you see the percentages.

(75% new oak; from small, healthy grapes unaffected by rot, according to Boillot, who added that the crop level here was a relatively healthy 25 hectoliters per hectare): Good deep red. Pristine, subtle nose combine scents of red cherry, white pepper, crushed stone, smoky minerals and underbrush. Fairly broad on entry, then sweet and savory in the middle, dispaying a spherical, utterly seamless texture. Red fruit flavors are lifted by wild herbs and white pepper. Not at all a powerful style of Bonnes-Mares, this classy wine finishes with serious but very refined tannins and lovely persistence.