2005 - Echezeaux Grand Cru, Robert Arnoux

Bright red-ruby. Reticent nose suggests dark fruits and licorice. Ripe and lively but tight in the mouth, not currently showing the sweetness or volume of the Chaumes. More strict and dominated by its structure today. But this youthfully closed and fairly tannic wine possesses terrific mineral reserves.

The 2005 Echezeaux smells of fresh black raspberry, corriander and wood smoke, comes to the palate with ingratiating fresh fruit juiciness and refinement of (nevertheless abundant) tannins, offering sweet inner-mouth suggestions of lily and apricot. The finish lingers with considerable subtlety and refinement. I would revisit this in 6-8 years. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne (85). Pascal Lachaux (the late Robert Arnoux’s son-in-law, who has been in charge here now for nearly two decades) had just bottled his 2005 collection – vinified in his superb, recently-completed, gravity-fed facilities – when I visited. Lachaux compares the proper watchword of the winemaker in a vintage with Pinot as healthy and naturally-concentrated as in 2005, to that of a chef confronted with a perfect piece of fish: restraint. That also describes the results he has achieved in bottle, although allowance should be made for the possibility that the expression of certain wines was restrained by their recent bottling. mporter: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990.