2005 Lucien Le Moine Grands-Echézeaux Grand Cru

Good red-ruby. Much higher-pitched on the nose than the Echezeaux, hinting at crushed stone and blood orange. Then sweet, juicy and quite tightly wound in the mouth, a bit youthfully clenched and imploded. Very pure, classy wine with superb intensity of flavor and very fine-grained tannins. This could hardly be more different in style from the Echezeaux.

The Le Moine 2005 Grands Echezeaux commands attention with a face-smacking intensity of bright black fruits, citrus oils and sea breeze. Pure, brash raw fruit intensity supplies the principle palate theme, building energy for a rapier finish that draws red blood amid all of its black, berry-ish juices. This is probably hiding its depth for now, and I know of no olfactory equivalent to donning polarizing sun glasses. (A highly promising Echezeaux, incidentally, was slightly lactic and reductive and not really amenable to evaluation on the day I visited.) Wine Advocate.June, 2007