Medium, medium-plus colour. The nose shows in a more restrained way than January – a little powdery at first – slowly becoming vanilla-tinged red fruit with a shade of pepper. The palate is a model of understated power, well covered, finely grained tannins. The nose is now starting to unlock a little, still mainly red berries, but we’ve moved up a gear. A real smoothie and whilst obviously outstanding it’s not such a stand-out as the last tasting.
Unlike London, the bottles here consistently showed no ruby tones – virtually the same shade of medium, medium-plus cherry red as the other wines. Versus La Tâche there’s more obvious spice that goes together with a melange of red and black fruits. Given time in the glass there’s a higher-toned floral aspect. Sweet, concentrated palate that is a little understated, but continues to understate itself for over a minute on the finish! Slowly evolves a cedary aspect to the finish.
Medium, medium-plus cherry red. Bright and intense nose of red and black cherry – shaded to red – with raspberry and subtle spice. The palate is sweet with very smooth tannin, nice concentration and just a little vanilla on the finish – a finish of 20-30 seconds. Smooth, understated and very drinkable – I’m surprised how easily this drinks. With time the impressive nose develops a little more spice. To put this wine firmly into context, after the La Tâche and Romanée-Conti, the nose is slightly less concentrated and certainly more diffuse. Still, there’s super length if less depth on the palate – in a word the wine is just ‘simpler’ than the top two, but nonetheless a very fine Échézeaux.
Again a medium, medium-plus cherry red colour. Where the Échézeaux was ‘broad’ in the nose, this is more focused though giving-up less. Higher toned with more maraschino cherry. The palate shows higher acidity and again, svelte, discrete tannin. The palate is also more focused and deep, though less ‘broad’ than the Échézeaux. There’s similar outstanding length, but to start with the wine doesn’t have the overall appeal of the Échézeaux. Slowly the nose starts to develop a wide, subtly spicy undertone (takes more than 10 minutes in the glass) which also starts to increase in depth. The palate is unchanging. I tried the second bottle and there was more obvious oak – though transient. This showed a little more depth than before and even a black edge to the fruit on the finish.
A funny wine, in a large glass on the serving table this looked the lightest wine on display, whereas take a modest serving in a tasting glass and it looks altogether darker. The nose is La Tâche – dense, heavy laden branches of red cherries and raspberries, then a little cedar and blood-orange too. Then the nose closes down for a while only to return with tar and mint. Not as incredibly changing as the 2000 at the same stage last year, but like I said – it’s still La Tâche. In the mouth it’s much more explosive than the Richebourg with a super finish that’s carried on by a wave of perfect acidity. If anything, these are the grainiest tannins of all the wines – but then it’s all relative!
Less deep colour than the Romanée-St-Vivant – but marginally. The nose has a more black aspect to the fruit, subtle aspects from the stems and quite high toned. Doesn’t seem to develop in the glass to the same extent as the others, but there’s still some change with the oak spice becoming more pronounced and a little more meaty. The palate has really good depth and fat, similar to the RSV, the quality and fineness of the tannin shining through – more so than the previous wines. The finish is very long, but seems more oak than wine. Has the depth of the Grands Échézeaux but shows in a more backward way – lovely smooth coating on the teeth though. A wine that’s not all joined-up yet, oak, fruit and oak but not a ‘whole’ wine just yet.
By a short-head this is the darkest wine on display – though still medium, medium-plus cherry red in colour. The nose is a melange of red fruits – mainly cherry – vanilla and a nice white pepper note. Instantly obvious is the extra fat and density of fruit when compared to the previous two wines. Again the tannins are super-smooth. Much more interesting length than the Grands Échézeaux. This wine really impresses – an appreciable step-up. Given extended time in the glass the nose becomes more focused on the red fruit and shows a touch of mocha. I seem to have written the least about this wine, but it is actually the most outstanding of the six – relative to their appellations of course.
In the tasting glass, this wine is a shade lighter in colour vs La Tâche, it’s also the only wine in the line-up to show some ruby colour. The nose starts with a blast of fruit and spice – very much like La Tâche – but closes down much faster. A quarter of an hour with the glass yields a few more floral notes, and then something a little green that morphs into a cedary pencil-lead note. The palate is very round, without the initial fireworks of the La Tâche, in fact it’s very understated. This is a wine that you could easily overlook after La Tâche and the RSV, but what sets it apart is the crystalline purity of fruit in the mid-palate and the faint but haunting finish. Very special
Medium-pale yellow with just a tinge of green to the rim. Citrus, apple, peach and toasty bread all glued together with a botrytis note – lots of things you can find on the nose. Once you put your lips to the glass you’re in for quite an experience – the wine is just so fat you can’t believe that it can be balanced – but balanced it is. Somehow seems to have a mineral streak running through its centre too. Very long. Yep – I’m impressed!
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