2011 Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Echezeaux

Dark red cherry, plum, spices, menthol and licorice all flesh out in the 2011 Echézeaux, a powerful, incredibly inviting Burgundy loaded with class and personality. Layers of dark, deeply spiced fruit blossom in the glass as the 2011 shows off its pure volume. The Echézeaux boasts fabulous extract and serious concentration. This is a marvelous Burgundy built for the cellar. Today, the 2011 is every bit as magnificent as it was from barrel.

The 2011 Echezeaux Grand Cru has a fragrant bouquet, again quite autumnal and leafy, with lovely, ripe black fruit – blackberry, bilberry intermingling with freshly tilled soil. The palate is medium-bodied with a saline entry. There is a palpable marine influence with hints of iodine and seaweed embroidered into the structured finish. This should age extremely well over two decades. Drink 2015-2035. Having been bowled over by the sublime 2012s, the Marie-Christine took me through the domaine’s 2011s, which provided a useful opportunity to compare the two vintages, in particular with respect to the Ruchottes-Chambertin. Importer: several importers including Michael Skurnik and North Berkeley (US) and Lea & Sandeman, Howard Ripley and Lay & Wheeler (UK).

Good bright, full red. Perfumed aromas of cherry, raspberry, tobacco, rose petal, minerals and smoked meat. Suave and silky in the mouth but a bit youthfully imploded, with well-integrated acidity giving shape to the middle palate. More savory and dry and less harmonious today than the Ruchottes but finishes long and pure, with sexy spice character and a firm tannic backbone for aging. Mostly from degenerating vines that produce tiny grapes in Les Rouges du Bas, the rest from Quartier de Nuits at the bottom of the slope.