SOLD OUT! If you hadn't noticed, we are pretty big fans of the wines from Domaine Andre Bonhomme, one of the top addresses in Southern Burgundy. This estate produces magical white wines, and their Old Vine bottling is one of their best. This is truly "old vine stuff," as most of the Chardonnay that makes it into this wine comes from 90+ year old vines!
I would feel 100% comfortable putting this in a blind tasting up against top wines of Puligny, Chassagne, and Saint Aubin. It truly is an incredibly fine value from this noble, and iconic estate. Fresh off of selling out of Bonhomme's Cuvee Speciale, their Vieilles Vignes arrived just in the nick of time. Just 60 bottles up for grabs.....act fast!
2020 Andre Bonhomme Vire-Clesse Vieilles Vignes
Serve this powerful and intense white in a big glass to get the full effect! And don’t serve too cold!!
SOLD OUT
The Bonhomme family aren't kidding when they say Vieilles Vignes (Old Vines), as this wine is produced with their oldest "material." These low-yielding, deeply rooted, and certified organic vines give this wine insane levels of concentration, intensity, and expansive aromas and flavors. Due to this wine's larger-than-life personality, it is aged for nearly two years on the lees in stainless steel as well as in French oak (15% new).
Trust me, this doesn't come off as an "oak monster" Chardonnay though. Far from it, this is golden in color, and it offers up exquisite and exotic yet pure notes of ripe pear, caramelized pineapple, white flowers, nutmeg, hazelnut, and chalky minerality. Full and substantial on the palate, this maintains the Bonhomme house style of also containing plenty of zesty acidity under all of that complex richness. I tend to treat this grand and exquisite white like I would a red -- drink in a big glass, and don't serve it too cold. Sometimes, I even decant it....
Greatness is always in the details, and the Bonhomme family are very detail-oriented. Located in the Vire-Clesse AOC, one of the finest white wine zones in the Maconnais, Bonhomme was one of the first to estate bottle their wines, one of the first to go organic, and one of the first to implement biodynamics. In addition, they are always one of the last estates to harvest their grapes, and you can taste that additional hang-time in this wine.
Unfortunately, Bonhomme's wines are very popular in France, and they grace the wine lists at many top, Michelin-starred restaurants. Thus, supply never meets demand. Drink this magical elixir now and over the next decade or longer. Yep, when I visited the estate several years back, they were pulling 20 to 30 year old bottles of this cuvee out of their cellars, and the wines were out of this world.
This is truly a world-class White Burg at a wonderful price. Like I said earlier, to get maximum enjoyment out of this one, serve in a big glass, and don't serve it ice cold. We were one of the lucky North Carolina accounts to get a decent allocation of this, but that only added up to 5 cases or 60 bottles.