Winemaker Notes
To the eye, a pure bright deep red, truly stunning. Clear and limpid, the shifting color nuances often vary, though generally tending towards fairly dark shades of garnet or violet-purple: a color that holds the eye. With age, the aromas tend towards pepper, musk, animal pelts, leather, spices, and prunes. Sometimes the bouquet hints at scents of woodland undergrowth, moss, mushrooms, damp earth, game, fruit liqueurs, and mulberries. Especially in young wines, one may well encounter scents of pine, dog roses, violets, and fresh cherries. On the palate, the wine is peaceful and dreamy, serene with age, subtle and refined; it fully reveals the complex nature of a really good Burgundy, all of the art that can be achieved through the medium of Pinot Noir grapes grown on one particular terroir. The structure is outstanding: solid, full-bodied, rich, and exceptionally harmonious. It is wholly appropriate for the qualification “Great” to precede Echezeaux in the name Grands-Echezeaux: it has that extra touch of class and vinosity along with a dense and subtle texture.
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.