2005 Domaine Emmanuel Rouget Echézeaux Grand Cru

Good deep red. Ripe, nuanced nose offers red fruits, coffee, mocha and underbrush. Suave and silky, with uncommon sweetness for this cuvee; perhaps less classic than the Cros Parantoux but rich and soil-inflected. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins and notes of iron and tobacco.

From two parcels abutting Les Suchots, the Rouget 2005 Echezeaux displays scents of dried cranberry, strawberry jam, sweet spices, mint candy, and vanilla and caramel hints of its all new barrels. Richly fruited, with a jellied, toasted and roasted personality and an overtly creamy, fatty feel on the palate, it finishes with a sweet, jellied fruit character, cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa powder, caramel and resin. I much prefer the more oak-resistant, brighter, and more carnal character of the Beaumonts today, but you certainly can’t fault this flattering Echezeaux on its ripeness, richness, or generosity. (I preferred the brash, bright 2004, from a vintage incidentally which Rouget decided could handle no new oak.) Importer: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400

Very good deep, bright red. Deep, complex nose combines dark fruits, minerals and coffee. Round, rich and full in the mouth without any heaviness; quite silky in texture. Finishes with broad, dusty, building tannins. These vines produced the lowest yield in 2005: about 35 hl/ha.