2007 Echezeaux du Dessus

The 2007 Echezeaux represents only the second time that Cecile Tremblay has vinified this appellation with 100% stems and whole clusters. Rhubarb and tart red cherry offer a fascinating counterpoint to roasted red meat and pan drippings. Another high-energy, carnal, saliva-inducing offering of real depth from this young vigneronne, this pairs liqueur-like textural richness and ripeness of flavor with a tart edge typical for the vintage and a complete absence of any superficial sense of sweetness. Hints of black pepper and brown spices enhance an impressively persistent finish of vibrancy and sap I would more normally associated with a top-notch 2008. I would look for at least a decade of delightful distinction. Cecile Tremblay scored some of the most consistent successes of any Cote d’Or Pinot domaine with her 2008 collection and those from among her 2007 bottlings that I was able to sample included a couple of wines exceptionally impressive for that vintage. Tremblay blames irregular flowering and correspondingly disparate ripeness rather than any rot for the 25% of her 2008 fruit that she says was discarded on the sorting table, but pronounces herself “quite content” with the results, a judgment I can only characterize as exhibiting a ridiculous degree of restraint! (And while she didn’t mention it and I didn’t ask to taste it, I saw a lot of 2008 Bourgogne Rose lying around in bins at Tremblay’s temporary cellar quarters in Gevrey.) To convey an idea of the concentration of raw material with which she was working, Tremblay noted that most of her fermentative lots were give only a single pigeage … that’s not per day, but in total. Anywhere from one- to two-thirds of whole clusters with stems were included in the ferments, with the most striking wines tending toward the higher end. The 2008s here (save for three noted) were still in barrels (form which I sampled representatives) when I last tasted, and were due to have been bottled in late spring. Incidentally, Tremblay recovered more of her family’s properties with the 2009 vintage, which also yielded a bumper crop per vine of irresistible ripeness and what appear to be for the vintage unusual depth and verve, so any wine lovers have trouble scoring some bottles of 2008s might get their chance from 2009 despite the hype already surrounding that vintage. Importer: Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800