Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Echézeaux Grand Cru comes from the top of the grand cru in "Les Poulaillères." It includes 40% whole bunch fruit from the 80-year-old vines and there are two barrels. It has a strict and precise, wild hedgerow-scented bouquet with just a hint of black tea. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, a little chalkiness here, but with satisfying depth on the finish that lingers in the mouth. Very fine.
Rating: 90-92
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.