1982 Echezeaux

The 1982 Echezeaux Grand Cru from Henri Jayer is one of those wines where I am so glad to have been able to assess it over the course of a couple of hours, here, at a splendid lunch in Hong Kong. This mercurial wine commences with a typical 1982 nose: a little diffuse and ferrous, musky with Girolles and black truffle. The palate is nicely balanced but rustic and loose-knit, and over the course of 60 minutes those threads tend to loosen and it feels like it is falling apart. Then it miraculously seems to embroider itself back together, like a ragdoll coming back to life. It gains cohesion, weight and intensity, and by the end of the lunch it is probably drinking better than ever. This is quite an astonishing, cerebral wine. Drink now-2018+. Tasted November 2013.

The 1982 Echezeaux Grand Cru from Henri Jayer is one of those wines where I am so glad to have been able to assess it over the course of a couple of hours, here, at a splendid lunch in Hong Kong. This mercurial wine commences with a typical 1982 nose: a little diffuse and ferrous, musky with Girolles and black truffle. The palate is nicely balanced but rustic and loose-knit, and over the course of 60 minutes those threads tend to loosen and it feels like it is falling apart. Then it miraculously seems to embroider itself back together, like a ragdoll coming back to life. It gains cohesion, weight and intensity, and by the end of the lunch it is probably drinking better than ever. This is quite an astonishing, cerebral wine. Drink now-2018+. Tasted November 2013. eRobertParker.com.February, 2014