The Grands-Echezeaux is fuller, sweeter, and more concentrated than the Echezeaux. It reveals a healthy dark ruby color, an attractive nose of red and black fruits and pain grillee, followed by a medium-bodied, concentrated style with a firm, well-delineated, focused personality, and moderate tannin in the finish. It is a 15-year wine that requires another 5-6 years of patience. The DRC's 1993s possess the vintage's toughness, tannic structure, austerity, and aging potential. They will not be flattering to drink in their youth, and most will require 6-10 years of cellaring. Typical of the vintage, they appear to be the most tannic and structured wines made at this domaine since 1983. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661

Much like the '93 La Tâche, I confess to having mixed experiences with the '93 GE, with some bottles showing brilliantly and others, like the one in this particular tasting, being tight to the point of an almost surly austerity and revealing next to nothing. By contrast, the best bottles in my experience display really lovely aromatics of entirely primary fruit aromas and spice notes that combine with powerful and concentrated flavors though the acidity has never seemed as well integrated as one might consider ideal. What is clear though in both cases is that this is a wine in need of lots of time and it wouldn't surprise me if my projected initial drinking window proved to be too soon.