2005 Domaine Jean Grivot, Echezeaux Grand Cru

Grivot’s 2005 Echezeaux leads with black raspberry and tart, high-toned red raspberry, fresh ginger, orange zest, black truffle, and wisps of wood smoke. Bright, high-toned, berry essences and pungent spice and smokiness dominate in the mouth as well, with a superb concentration and purity of sweet, creamy fruit coating the palate. Low-toned minerals and meat stock emerge in the wine’s long finish, but its energetic, invigorating brightness and primary sweetness of fruit remain undiminished. Etienne Grivot aimed this year for gentle extraction (essentially without pigeage), then watchful preservation of the freshness, subtleties and refinement inherent in near-perfect raw material. He performed some very light chaptalization to extend the fermentations. Given the health and natural concentration of his vinous raw material, he felt no need to sulfur or rack the wines until shortly prior to bottling (without filtration), which was the stage at which I tasted. Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400.

Deep ruby-red. Knockout brooding nose offers dark fruits, smoke, leather and musky Cuban tobacco. Wonderfully silky and thick on entry, then impressively dense without any heaviness in the middle palate. Hugely concentrated wine with superb sucrosite This spreads out to saturate the entire palate with black raspberry fruit and subtle earth tones. Can't quite match the Suchots for delicacy but this boasts outstanding breadth and class. A great example of Echezeaux.