Bonnes Mares, Domaine Dujac 1999

An explosively earthy red fruit nose combines with intensely powerful, delicious, lush, full-bodied, perfumed, meltingly seductive flavors that are gorgeously textured and incredibly sappy. This is supple yet thick and possesses flat out splendid length with the same solid, indeed robust and chewy classic Bonnes Mares structure. In short, this is a real stunner of a wine though it is so backward that it will require plenty of time to unwind.

Classic young Bonnes Mares with its austere, firm exterior yet with a breathtakingly intense inner core of fiery fruit and extract of pinot. The sweet tannins are mouth coating and the texture almost liquorous yet there is a certain tension here that adds a note of mystery, as though the wine has much more to reveal than its presently hinting at. This may well have the best balance and overall material of any of these 99s and I have long believed that it is the most underrated wine in the Dujac portfolio. Captivating in every sense.