2008 Echezeaux

Good bright, deep red. Sexy aromas of ripe cherry, redcurrant, smoke and earth. Suave, silky and fine-grained, with lovely sweetness and perfume to the red fruit flavors. Nicely integrated oak. Finishes vibrant, tactile and long, with a broad, fine dusting of tannins, a saline element, and lovely lingering perfume. This really stimulates the taste buds.

The From the iron-rich Rouge du Dessus sector at the upper-elevation margins of this cru, Lachaux’s 2008 Echezeaux is saturated with alkaline and smoky mineral character adumbrated even in the nose, and which – taken together with formidable tannins – makes for a relatively austere performance. That said, a complex, concentrated amalgam of red raspberry, brown spices, blond tobacco and game is not to be under-estimated, and I’m hoping that this is another instance of bottle shock temporarily hardening the tannins. In any case, this is going to demand patience of any who choose to cellar it. I tasted Pascal Lachaux’s 2008s soon after their late-January bottling, and a few of them may have been suffering from trauma they thereby sustained, but on the whole this was an impressive if darkly-hued and unapologetically firmly-structured collection. Lachaux reports that his malos were “on time, normal,” and adds “the truth about 2008 and why the malos were so often retarded is that people sulfured the fruit too heavily at the advice of their enologues.” Even at bottling, Lachaux reports that he was sparing with sulfur and expected to take advantage of the high levels of residual CO2 in his 2008s. He says he allowed temperatures to rise during the fermentation as a means of extracting more flavor without having to actively work the cap and in consequence risk pulling out green flavors or hard tannins. This approach may explain the particularly low-toned personality of this 2008 collection, which certainly didn’t leave me wishing that the wines had sustained additional pigeage! If the number of magnums I saw is any indication, Lachaux seriously intends on putting to the test his confidence in this vintage’s aging potential. Yet he is also very keen on his 2007s, those of which I tasted from bottle were indeed impressive, though I seem even in this instance to be missing what those growers most enamored of their 2007s profess to perceive. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Good full, medium red. Aromatically pure, complex aromas of cherry, spices, menthol and tobacco. Elegantly styled, juicy and perfumed, with lovely inner-palate energy and lift. The noblest 2008 yet to this point, offering excellent flavor definition and finishing with firm but not dry tannins and persistent perfume.