Mint, concentrated red and black fruits, smoked meat, and black pepper pungently scent the De Vogue 2006 Bonnes Mares. These migrate with almost implosive intensity to a palate lushly textured though finely tannic and almost implacably dense yet shot through with electric energy. Here are both the caressing and invigorating aspects at once present in so many of the best 2006s, each accentuated. Like so many young wines of its appellation, this is relatively backward and slightly unruly, but the longer the wine takes on air the more both its senses of richness and energy are enhanced. (DS)

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This too is quite restrained with almost exclusively red berry fruit and intense floral aromas that are high-toned and pure while complementing the supple, textured, dusty and extremely precise flavors that exude a quiet power on the brooding and linear finish that delivers outstanding length. This will require every bit of a decade to resolve the very firm structure. This is less elegant than the 1er but more powerful and the distinguishing character of the '06 Bonnes Mares is the serenity that it projects. I thought that it would be good but this knocks on the door of being genuinely great.

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