Marchand-Tawse Bonnes Mares Grand Cru 2012

(Barrel sample, from the Morey side) A beautifully complex, elegant and gorgeously pure nose offers up notes of violet, plum and a broad range of spice elements that are trimmed in just enough wood to notice. Just as with the Bèze there is seriously good richness to the muscular and voluminous big-bodied flavors that brim with palate coating dry extract that does a good job of largely buffering the very firm tannic spine. This sleekly constructed effort is excellent and should amply reward extended cellaring. Drink [until] 2027+. Score - 92-94. (Allen Meadows, burghound.com, Jan. 15, 2014)