2015 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru

The 2015 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru was cropped at 30.42hl/ha on 11 and 12 September. It has a glorious bouquet that springs from the glass: Morello cherries, crushed strawberry, crushed stone, just a hint of bay leaf all beautifully defined and with a little more horsepower than the Echézeaux. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip on the entry and comes across more saline in the mouth than its “little brother”. There is a pinch of spice that becomes more prominent with aeration and then against my expectations, it becomes understated and quite linear on the finish. One of the more backward 2015s from the domaine this year, I would cellar this for four or five years at least; a Grands Echézeaux that is full of secrets. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London.

The 2015 Grands Échézeaux Grand Cru is more brooding and reserved than the Échézeaux, opening in the glass with notes of raspberry, plum preserve, currant leaf, blood orange, hints of the forest floor to come and, again, a rich framing of new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with notable structural amplitude and a long, authoritative and firmly tannic finish. This is always a wine that takes a long time to show all its cards, and the 2015 is no exception, but the raw materials indicate that patience will bear dividends. Cropped at 30 hectoliters per hectare and harvested September 11 and 12.

(not yet racked): Fruit-driven aromas of crushed cherry and raspberry currently dominate the wine's mineral and spice components on the nose. Sweet and thick in the style of the vintage at DRC but also with terrific penetration and cut to its impressively sappy, dense fruit flavors. This very solid and remarkably primary Grands-Echézeaux boasts bulletproof fruit. It's more tightly coiled in the early going than the Echézeaux.

More emphatic than their Échézeaux, with bold fruit that has an almost cordial-type aroma on the palate that leads into a staunchly savoury finish that tastes meaty and with a blackcurrant style to the fruit. There’s a degree of austerity here that isn’t quite mean, but certainly suggests there is better development in store. (RH)