Single-Owner Private Collection of Fine Wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace and Champagne
Live Virtual Auction, 16 May 2021
Single-Owner Private Collection of Fine Wines
About this Item
Domaine Bonneau du Martray is one of the most famous estates in Corton Charlemagne. The property was owned by the same family for over two centuries until, in 2017, it was sold to Stan Kroenke, the owner of the world-renowned American estate, Screaming Eagle. In the 8th Century, the estate belonged to Emperor Charlemagne who, legend has it, liked the wine of Corton so much that he gave his name to it. Jean Le Bault, Count of Morinière, inherited the estate in 1969 from his uncle, René Bonneau du Martray, and in 1994 Jean-Charles de la Morinière took over from his father. Domaine Bonneau du Martray only produces Grands Crus. In 1996, after geographically surveying the domaine’s parcels and its nine different soil types, Jean-Charles started vinifying the parcels separately.
Provenance
Private Client
Critics Ratings
'A prototypical '96. Racy, full-bodied, intensely stony and citrusy, it offers ripe yet delicate aromas and flavors of pear, pineapple, wet stone, mineral and toasted oak. Delicious as it swirls in the palate, then kicks in with vengence on the citrus-smacking finish. The best part: not overdone in the oak department. Best after 2005. 4,250 cases made.' - Wine Spectator, 95/100 (Aug 1998)
‘The nose offers an incredible range of tropical fruit, mineral, toast and exotic spice aromas with discernable notes of pineapple pastry, chalk, praline and honey. The palate is big, rich and buttery with a wonderful silky texture and a fresh burst of balancing acidity. Very long fruit-and-nut finish.’ - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate, 93/100 (Oct 2008)
‘A ripe and classic nose of distinctly discreet and reserved green fruit and floral aromas that are airy, pure and lightly spiced merge into intense, precise and penetrating medium full flavors blessed with terrific acid/fruit balance and huge length. This is really a lovely wine that is presently a tightly coiled spring and in need of extended bottle aging to really put on display the superb potential here. An understated stunner of a wine as well as ultra refined and one of the best examples of this appellation in 2005.’ – Allen Meadows, Burghound.com, 95/100 (2008)
A ripe and slightly phenolic (think olive oil) nose is composed of mostly green fruit and floral aromas that are airy, pure and lightly spiced. There is fine intensity to the rich yet precise and penetrating medium full flavors that are blessed with terrific acid/fruit balance and huge length. This is really a lovely wine that is presently still on the way up in magnum format even though with some aeration it could be enjoyed now. – Allen Meadows, Burghound.com, 94/100 (2015)