2018 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru

The 2018 Grands Échézeaux Grand Cru is a rich, muscular wine, unfurling in the glass with aromas of cherries, sweet berries, red fruit compote and plums mingled with subtle hints of exotic spices and peonies. Full-bodied, fleshy and broad-shouldered, with an ample core of fruit, powdery tannins, ripe acids and a long, heady finish. Out of the gates, the 2018 is something of a fruit bomb, but with time it should metabolize that puppy fat to become something special.

The 2018 Grands Echézeaux Grand Cru may well be the most perplexing offering from the domaine this year. Backward and reticent on the nose, this is very well-defined, but my word, you have to eke out the light sea cave and limestone scents with rigorous swirling of the glass. The palate is medium-bodied and very fresh. This is an atypically linear Grands Echézeaux that sports a bony finish marked by the whole-bunch addition. I am fascinated to revisit this once in bottle. At the moment it is a book that does not want to be read.