2005 Maison Nicolas Potel Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
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Tasting notes
Medium bright red. Aromas of raspberry, mocha, brown spices and underbrush. Dense and rich but not a particularly sweet style. There's wonderfully rich, sexy black raspberry and cassis fruit here but today the texture is a bit muscular, even chunky. This will need time to absorb its new oak. Right now I'm not finding quite the perfumed high tones or finesse of texture this wine showed last year from barrel, but then many 2005s are already beginning to go into a shell.
Critic scores
David Schildknecht, Vinous
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Aromas of bright red raspberry and red currant and herbal distillates inform the nose of the Potel 2005 Bonnes Mares. Remarkably smooth and polished on the palate, offering a scintillating display of smoked, peppered meats, tart berries, pungent tobacco and bitter-sweet licorice, this finishes with unusual elegance, refinement and buoyancy for a Bonnes Mares, not to mention for a wine of such sheer intensity. As with so many of the best of Potel’s 2005s, there are certainly ample tannins, but these are exceedingly refined and unobtrusive. I suspect that this is hiding significant incipient complexity and would plan on giving it a decade or more to evolve. Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700.
Bright red-ruby. Wild, briary red berries, mocha and licorice on the nose, accented by heady spices and herbs. Sweet, suave and pungent in the mouth, with a terrific peppery lift to the dense, palate-dusting flavors. Finishes broad and rather airy, with superb lift and perfume.
Aromas of bright red raspberry and red currant and herbal distillates inform the nose of the Potel 2005 Bonnes Mares. Remarkably smooth and polished on the palate, offering a scintillating display of smoked, peppered meats, tart berries, pungent tobacco and bitter-sweet licorice, this finishes with unusual elegance, refinement and buoyancy for a Bonnes Mares, not to mention for a wine of such sheer intensity. As with so many of the best of Potel’s 2005s, there are certainly ample tannins, but these are exceedingly refined and unobtrusive. I suspect that this is hiding significant incipient complexity and would plan on giving it a decade or more to evolve. Jun 2007, www.robertparker.com