2016 Domaine Anne Gros Echézeaux Grand Cru "Les Loächausses"

The Echezeaux (where yields were down by 50%) is quite flattering this year, with an expressive nose of rose petal, red and black fruit, coniferous forest floor and an elegant framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, ample and expansive, with a sweet core of fruit and good depth.

The 2016 Echezeaux Grand Cru exhibits aromas of dark berries, baking chocolate, grilled squab, Asian spices and a subtle framing of toasty new oak, followed by a full-bodied, ample and expansive palate with a nicely layered, concentrated core, juicy acids and fine structuring tannins. Fifty percent of the crop was lost to spring frosts, so it's no surprise that the wine is deeper and more intense than the 2017 rendition. Anne Gros is happy with her 2017 vintage, a portfolio of supple, open-knit wines which she says have gained depth and complexity with élevage. It's a range that will drink well out of the gates, whereas in the more serious 2016s—which I revisited from bottle—will merit a bit of bottle age. Readers who have followed this domaine over the years will have noticed that since the early 2000s house style has become less extracted and less oaky. Who, tasting Anne's early vintages, could have imagined a future in which her Richebourg would mature in merely one-third new oak? To my palate, it's a positive evolution. Today, purity of fruit and suavity of structure, are the watchwords at this address, and while Anne is sanguine about her wines' aging potential, counseling drinking them between ages five and fifteen, I suspect that at the very least her grands crus are sufficiently well balanced to significantly surpass that conservative recommendation.(WK)