Winemaker Notes
He is "Great" before being Echézeaux. He is a peasant and dreamy aristocrat who would walk happily, at the slow pace of his horse, in a forest full of smells: moss, dead leaves, soil, game ... All this is expressed "with feeling", in a refined, musical, concise and pure language like the message of a Mozart quartet.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's 1985 Grands Échézeaux Grand Cru is showing spectacularly well, soaring from the glass with aromas of blackberries and cassis mingled with notions of hoisin, exotic spices, orange rind, peonies and cola. Full-bodied, rich and ample, it's velvety and enveloping, with a fleshy core of fruit, superb depth and dimension and a long, expansive and intensely perfumed finish. Every glass revealed different but equally captivating nuances over the course of the evening.
Celebrated as some of the best wine in the universe, red wine from Burgundy, otherwise known as red Burgundy, is Pinot noir. In fact Burgundy is the birthplace of Pinot noir and the source of the planet’s most sensual, delicate, valuable and sought-after Pinot noir wines.
Understanding and enjoying red Burgundy can stay simple, with a basic knowledge of its subregions, become more intricate by dialing down to the villages and vineyards or become a life-long passion, exploring climats (plots of vines), vintages and the post French Revolution land ownership laws. In any case, a fine red Burgundy will display refined nuances of black currant, red fruit, earth, spice, alluring floral aromatics and have great elegance, complexity and longevity.
Most famous, praised and collected of Burgunday are those from the Côte d'Or. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the area now called Côte d'Or was under a warm ocean whose sea floor has, over time, shifted and decomposed into various layers of limestone, sandstone and clay interspersed with ancient fossilized sea creatures. This is what is referred to as the famous escarpment upon which all of the highly sought-after Grands Crus and Premiers Crus vineyards can be found. In other words, from north to south, the best vineyards of Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echezeaux, Nuits-St-Georges, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard and Volnay follow the path of this ancient sea bed.