2007 Echezeaux

Black raspberry and dark cherry confiture tinged with cocoa powder and coconut lend Rouget’s 2007 Echezeaux a flattering sweetness of aroma and complement its subtly creamy, soft, generous inner-mouth impression (even when initially tasted at cellar temperature). But enough sense of fresh fruit and of lift is retained here to convey some sense of elegance; and suggestions of beef marrow add something beyond a fruit dimension. I suspect this will keep well for at least 6-8 years, but confess I cannot see a reason to wait. (Comparing the 2006 alongside, I agree with Rouget that it seems to combine the best aspects of 2008 and 2007, and neither of us find evidence that the 2006s as a group are “shutting down.”) I tasted Emmanuel Rouget’s 2008s from barrel in April and he was planning to bottle them within a month. According to one of Rouget’s favorite descriptors, the vintage was “tres particulaire,” not to mention challenging. “I harvested at an average of 12%” potential alcohol, he reports, “and chaptalized less than a degree. That sufficed. It was more important to harvest while there was still good weather and besides, it was already cold. There was a lot of acidity, but that conveys a superb equilibrium and level of freshness. The wines really exhibit the plenitude of Pinot.” Rouget rejects what he acknowledges is a widespread comparison of 2008 with 1996, suggesting that the latter “was more marked by sunshine, and resulted in less-noticeable acidity.” (As noted in the introduction to this report, he compares 2008 with 1986.) Importer: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400