2016 Grands Echezeaux
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru has a very intense bouquet with layers of black cherries, boysenberry and crushed stone aromas, though it becomes more floral with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin, and a fine bead of acidity. Backward but intense with a fresh but paradoxically introspective finish that suggests it will require several years in bottle. Another bottle at Burgfest did not convey the same degree of freshness, hence the question mark against my score. Tasted at the Domaine.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Cropped at a mere ten hectoliters per hectare thanks to devastating spring frosts, the 2016 Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru is one of the finest wines Maxim Cheurlin has produced to date. Unfurling in the glass with complex aromas of cherries, cassis, dark chocolate, grilled venison, loamy soil and black truffle, it's full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, with searing levels of concentration, rich structuring tannins and bright acids, concluding with a long and expansive finish.
(barely 15 hectoliters per hectare produced, owing to substantial frost; the malo finished in June): Deep black ruby. Nose dominated by high-pitched violet. Boasts terrific saline depth of flavor and inner-mouth tension but also a creaminess of texture that's rare for the vintage. A wine of great class, finishing with slowly mounting length, a repeating saline quality and terrific lift. A splendid Grands-Echézeaux in the making, with its dark berry, mineral and bitter chocolate flavors showing even more energy than the 2015 version at the same stage. (The Echézeaux, which Cheurlin vinified with 20% whole clusters owing to the tiny volume, was medicinal and reduced, and too salty, tight and dry on the finish to assess.)
About the producer
Domaine Georges Noëllat, based in the village of Vosne-Romanée is today run by Maxime Cheurlin. Cheurlin took over the domaine in 2010 – aged just 20 – and has since transformed its reputation as one of the finest Burgundy wine producers.