Winemaker Notes
On the palate, the texture is like silk and velvet. The tannins are noble, fine-grained. The finish is extremely long and sums up the sensations of the nose with the same elegance.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Echezeaux Grand Cru, of which there are two barrels this year, has a fragrant wild strawberry, Morello and woodland-scented bouquet that is beautifully defined and neatly enmeshed with the oak. The palate is medium-bodied, here showing a little more of the wood influence than the nose, though there is good depth with a slightly savory finish that just needs to develop more persistence once in bottle. There is energy packed into this Echézeaux and I can see it repaying those sage enough to cellar it for 6-8 years.
Range: 92-94
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.