1999 Domaine René Engel Grands-Echézeaux Grand Cru
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The 1999 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru is one of the high points of the late Philippe Engel's career, and it is still only just entering its drinking window. Unwinding in the glass with deep aromas of wild berries, exotic spices, vine smoke and petals, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and concentrated, with terrific depth at the core, supple tannins and a suave, seamless profile. Another decade will only be rewarded with more aromatic range and textural sensuality.
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Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 1999 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru is consistent with the bottle that I tasted four years earlier. It has an intense, quite floral bouquet that displays more black fruit than I expect, a touch of black olive emerging with time. The palate is extremely well balanced, grippy and structured, though many not quite delivering the finesse of Engel's 2002s for example. There is sinew here, but it is far from what you would describe as a brawny wine. It finishes with layers of black cherry, wild strawberry, brown spices and a subtle pastille-like element. You could broach this now of course, but I am intrigued to see how it will age. (NM)
This has always been one of my favorite '99s and it continues to mature at a snail's pace though finally some hints of mature fruit are creeping into the brilliantly complex and spicy nose. There is excellent richness and concention to the big, rich and well-muscled flavors that are borderline robust and brimming with buckets of dry extract, all wrapped in a sappy finish that deliver flat out phenomenal length. As I wrote in 2000, this is "textbook Grands-Echézeaux" and there nothing in here that would suggest otherwise. Note that plenty of patience will still be required as this will be close to 20 years of age before it has reached its full potential. Tasted several times with similar impressions.