De Vogue’s 2007 Bonnes Mares calls to mind sweet-tart black raspberry candies and herbal lozenges, along with notes of brown spices and smoky black tea. Rich, sedate, and provocatively sweet and perfumed, this manages simultaneously to preserve a saline savor and suggestion of lobster shell reduction that precludes anyone calling it a “fruit bomb.” The smoky and – for lack of a better covering term – “mineral” elements accompany this Bonnes Mares’ soothing finish all the way to its distant end. No doubt there is at least a decade’s worth of seduction and intrigue on hand, but here too, I would not hesitate to relish them significantly sooner. Francois Millet – always keen to pinpoint the expression of fruit he finds in each vintage – characterizes that of 2008 as “syrup-like,” and of 2007 as “candied.” I am skeptical that these metaphors can be generalized, but under no circumstances should “syrup-like” be taken as an attempt to deny the brightness or transparency displayed by so many of the best 2008s, including these. “To have been picked late” – in this instance, starting September 27 – “to have been picked cold, and to have fermented very slowly to created the largest amount of glycerol to combine with the freshness of the vintage,” opines Millet, constitutes a significant part of the 2008s’ secret, seduction, even mystery. “Late malo” – here completed in August – he adds, “was also good, so that the vintage could have a true childhood, and slowly, surely build itself. If we had had a southern wind when the weather changed, maybe we would have lost that identity of 2008. But by there being a northern wind, the evolution was continued” i.e. in a constant, cool trajectory. Not to short-change it, the 2007 vintage collection here is one of those few capable of standing direct comparison to its immediate successor – or indeed to nearly any other vintage from this address.

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An attractive and expressive nose displays a panoply of ripe floral and fruit aromas that are now displaying moderate secondary character (though no sous-bois). There is both good size and weight to the still tautly muscular medium weight plus flavors where the supporting tannins are softening but clearly not resolved on the sneaky long and reasonably well-balanced finale as the only nit is a hint of warmth. For my taste this is not far from its apogee but a few more years of keeping should prove beneficial, especially in the hopes of adding depth.

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