ROMANEE CONTI Echezeaux Grand cru 2019

The 2019 Echezeaux Grand Cru is a bigger, richer wine that pushes on the ripeness scale, offering a monster bouquet of red and black fruits, licorice, spice, and roasted herb-like nuances, with a kiss of violets emerging with time in the glass. Needing plenty of air to show at its best, it's full-bodied and concentrated on the palate, with a much broader, more expansive, and hedonistic style. However, its balance and precision lag the 2018, and this is a beast of wine that could be mistaken for a Grenache at this young stage. It’s going to take some time to shed its considerable baby fat and should have two decades or more of longevity. While I suspect the 2018 will be the longer-lived wine, I doubt it will ever match the 2019 for sheer hedonistic pleasure or sexiness.

The 2019 Echézeaux Grand Cru was picked on September 22–23 at 23hl/ha. It has an absolutely divine bouquet of pure black cherry and blueberry scents plus hints of pressed violet and crushed limestone, all displaying wonderful focus. The palate is very spicy with a liberal dose of black pepper on the entry. I cannot remember an Echézeaux from the domaine blessed with so much exuberance and charm at this early stage in its evolution, leaving the mouth tingling with glee after it has departed. Not to be underestimated, this should drink for 20–30 years.

Deeper pitched than the domaine's Corton, the 2019 Échézeaux Grand Cru exhibits aromas of blackberries, plums, exotic spices, orange rind and rose hips. Full-bodied, rich and ample, its broad, textural attack segues into a deep and concentrated mid-palate and a long, saline finish. This is a sensual, enveloping, elegantly muscular Échézeaux that has fulfilled all the promise it showed in barrel.