Domaine Maxime Cheurlin Noëllat’s Bonnes Mares Grand Cru is the most prestigious wine in this small estate’s portfolio, drawn from a parcel in the 15.06-hectare Grand Cru that straddles the communal boundary between Chambolle-Musigny and Morey-Saint-Denis. Bonnes Mares is one of Burgundy’s most respected and consistently powerful Grand Crus, producing Pinot Noir of considerable structural depth and aromatic complexity from the combination of red marl in the Chambolle portion (which tends to produce more elegant, perfumed wines) and white limestone in the Morey sector (which produces firmer, more mineral-driven expressions). Together these soils create a wine that occupies a unique position between the ethereal fragrance of Chambolle at its finest and the mineral weight and structure of the greatest Gevrey and Morey Grand Crus. The 2021 vintage, with its frost-reduced yields and exceptional concentration, should have produced a Bonnes Mares of notable density from what is already a structurally formidable vineyard.

The opportunity presented by Bonnes Mares from a small independent grower is precisely the inverse of the challenge presented by the vineyard’s most commercially prominent owners. Domaine G. Roumier’s Bonnes Mares, arguably the finest available, is allocated at prices and quantities that make it effectively inaccessible to most collectors outside of the tightest import relationships. Small-grower Bonnes Mares, from a domaine of genuine quality that farms its parcel with care, offers the terroir character of this magnificent site at prices that reflect the domaine’s commercial reality rather than its vineyard’s legendary prestige. The 2021 vintage’s combination of frost-reduced concentration and the natural structure of the Grand Cru should produce a wine of considerable ageing potential.

Bonnes Mares from Domaine Maxime Cheurlin Noëllat represents one of this catalogue’s most compelling pure terroir propositions: a wine of extraordinary historical prestige, produced by a small and honest domaine with a genuine holding in one of Burgundy’s most imposing Grand Crus, in a vintage of unusual concentration and structural depth.

Deep ruby with a powerfully complex nose of dark cherry, violet, dried rose, iron mineral, spice, earth and the distinctive authority that Bonnes Mares’ red marl and white limestone combination provides. Full-bodied with formidable but polished tannins, excellent natural acidity and a very long, mineral, structured finish. Best from 2030 through 2052.