2015 Domaine Forey Père & Fils Echézeaux Grand Cru

(13.9% alcohol; from the lieux-dits Les Treux and Clos Saint-Denis; aging in 90% new oak): Bright, dark red. Less unrelievedly black on the nose than most of the preceding 2015s here, offering sexy scents of dark raspberry, red licorice and spices. In a sweet, distinctly silky style, elegant in the context of this line-up, with its black raspberry fruit complicated by spices, licorice, mocha and chocolate. For all its mid-palate creaminess, this aromatically complex wine is still holding plenty in reserve. Finishes with firm tannins and lingering notes of licorice and dark chocolate.

(from the climats of Les Treux and Clos St. Denis). Here the moderately wooded nose is more reserved with its array of ultra-spicy purple fruit aromas. The equally serious broad-shouldered flavors are both bigger and more powerful thanks to the excellent mid-palate density, all wrapped in a markedly firm and lingering finish that is also very clearly built-to-age. Dec 2016, www.burghound.com