Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Echézeaux Grand Cru has a powerful bouquet that harnesses the warmth of the growing season without losing one iota of the delineation: dark cherries intermingle with mulberry, chestnut, a touch of leather and white pepper - very complex and involving. The palate is medium-bodied with chalky tannin on the entry. This is brimming over with energy and tension, a vein of orange rind interwoven through the red fruit with a dash of black pepper towards the structured finish. This is an outstanding Echézeaux from Etienne Grivot.
Barrel Sample: 94-96 -
Wine Spectator
Initially shows some earth and animal aromas that give way to high-toned leafy, green, currant and cherry notes with air. Elegant, refined and vibrant, this persists through the long finish, revealing fruit, spice and mineral elements. Best from 2023 through 2045. 153 cases imported.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Claiming the two famous Grand Crus, Echezeaux and Grands Echezeaux, the identity of this village, Flagey-Echezeaux, rides predominantly on the glory of those two crus. All of the village or Premier Cru status vineyards in Flagey-Echezeaux market themselves under the name of their neighbor, Vosne-Romanée.
Echezeaux Pinot noir tends be light, bright and full of finesse, whereas those of Grands Echezeaux typically have more heft and complexity.