Domaine Rouget Echezeaux 2016

Reviewed by

- Neal Martin (December, 2017)

Published

2017-12-29

Drink Date

2021 - 2045

Reviewed by: Neal Martin Release Price: NA Drink Date: 2021 - 2045 The 2016 Echézeaux Grand Cru comes from three parcels within the grand cru. Emmanuel told me that it was frosted 30% but between 10% to 20% lost in terms of buds. It has a tightly wound bouquet, the fruit a little darker than I was expecting, perhaps shaded by the vivacity of the les Beaumonts. The palate is well balanced with firm tannin, dark cherries and blueberry, a touch of licorice that frames a confit-like, vivacious finish that lingers longer than I was anticipating. This is a classy, inevitably delicious Echézeaux. As usual, Emmanuel was guarded when he greeted me at his winery in Gilly. (For some reason, there is always a table with assorted vegetables…I think Emmanuel must have his own vege patch in the back garden. Maybe every bottle of Cros Parantoux comes with free pumpkin?) But he soon warms up. By the time we reach his premier crus we are jabbering away like two fishwives, discussing scribes that have frequented his domaine recently. He was impacted by the frost in 2016, losing 80% of his production, a majority in Savigny-lès-Beaune that completely bit the dust and was blended into the Bourgogne Rouge. Losing so much of his crop, it might be tempting to forsake the tenet of de-stemming the fruit that he inherited from his uncle Henri Jayer, but rest assured not a single stem entered the vat. “I have never seen such damage in 40 years of winemaking,” Emmanuel told me, voice as gravelly as Dylan. “But the wines achieved a good level of ripeness and we did not have to do any chaptalization. They achieved the same sugar levels as in 2015 but with more acidity. They have such purity and balance: the persistence, precision and elegance. They remind me a little of the 2002s.” As I have written before, I don’t think Emmanuel receives his due credit, people a little too enraptured by his late uncle and too dismissive of Emmanuel, often without actually tasting his wines. Joined by his two sons (Guillaume outside busy on the fork-lift), he has overseen some brilliant wines in the last five years. The star of the show this year is not the Echézeaux or his Cros Parantoux. It is his Vosne-Romanée Les Beaumonts that is blessed with filigree tannin, seductive pure fruit and amazing length. Uncle Henri would have been dead chuffed with wine of this pedigree. Elsewhere, Emmanuel has overseen a superb range. They lean a little bit more toward new oak due to the small harvest increasing the proportion, but there is sufficient fruit to back it all up and assure a long and prosperous aging for those fortunate enough to obtain a few bottles.

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