Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Grands Echézeaux comes from old vines and includes around 15% whole-cluster fruit. It has a very ripe and opulent bouquet with dark plum and mulberry with light violet scents. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe tannins, very good density, backward compared to Drouhin’s other 2013s, with density and presence on the finish. This is a Grands Echezeaux demanding to be taken seriously. You should heed its advice.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 -
Wine Spectator
Cherry and currant aromas gain depth on the palate from the spice and mineral elements. Elegant, racy and long, this gets support courtesy of the dense, dusty tannins. Best from 2018 through 2033. 27 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.