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Tasting notes
The 2012 Echézeaux Grand Cru , which comes from “Les Rouges de Bas” and “Les Quartiers de Nuits,” has another extremely pure bouquet, quite sensual in style with crushed strawberry intermingling with raspberry, briar and even a touch of flint. The palate is fresh and sappy on the entry with fine acidity cutting through quite a dense carapace of red berry fruit. It gently builds toward a structured, marine-influenced finish that gently fans out. This will require three to five years in bottle. These are extremely fine and sophisticated.
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Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Moderately saturated medium red. Very ripe, slightly high-toned aromas and flavors of redcurrant, raspberry, tobacco, soy sauce and warm spices, with complementary sweet oak tones. Broad, dry and seamless; wonderfully fine-grained but a bit unforthcoming today flavor-wise. The longest of these 2012s to this point, finishing with serious ripe tannins and terrific verve.
(the crop level was a tiny 17 hectoliters per hectare, owing to an outbreak of caterpillars that attacked the vulnerable buds and to miserable weather during the flowering): Very ripe aromas of red fruits, orange rind and caramel, complicated by notes of mint, spices and red fruits. Sweet, smooth and very fine-grained, with a smoky note adding interest to the ripe fruit. Finishes with refined tannins and excellent length. In a distinctly gentle style for a grand cru.
A dark, powerful, brooding wine, the 2012 Echézeaux boasts stunning depth and concentration. This is an unusually big, rich wine for the domaine, yet all the elements are wonderfully balanced. Layers of dark, spiced fruit flow through to the resonant, hugely expressive finish. The abnormally low yields of the vintage are felt in the wine's gravitas and breath. Readers who can find the Echézeaux should not hesitate. It is magnificent. Yields were just 10 hectoliters per hectare in Rouge du Bas and 25 hectoliters per hectare in Quartiers de Nuits.