2017 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux Grand Cru

The 2017 Echézeaux Grand Cru is similarly lifted, with a bit darker fruit and more structure than the Corton. A deceptive, beguiling Burgundy, the 2017 shows the mid-weight structure of the year. Here too, time in the glass brings out the wine’s vertical feel and overall intensity. The 2017 needs time to soften, but it is incredibly persistent and impeccable in its balance. Readers should expect an especially austere Echézeaux that is going to require cellaring. The fruit was brought in on September 13 and 15, with a day’s break in between because of rain.

The flamboyant 2017 Échézeaux Grand Cru is especially good this year, bursting from the glass with an extravagant bouquet of wild berries, rose petals, cinnamon, smoked duck and Asian spices. On the palate, it's full-bodied, supple and velvety, with an expansive attack and superb depth and amplitude, its fleshy core of fruit framed by fine, melting tannins. Reminiscent of a modern-day version of the Domaine's 1985 Échézeaux, this is another 2017 that has gained appreciably with its final months of élevage. Picked on the 18th, this was where the estate's harvest concluded.

The 2017 Echézeaux Grand Cru, picked a day after the Grands-Echézeaux on September 13 with a few stragglers picked two days later, has a finely detailed bouquet of black cherry, mulberry, crushed stone and light sous-bois aromas. The palate is lightly spiced on the entry with a dash of white pepper, and offers fine tannin and crunchy black fruit. The structured finish is quite masculine but fresh and vibrant. Cerebral, more so than I think people will give it credit for.