The 2008 Echezeaux boasts incredible inner fragrance, the silkiest of tannins and exceptional polish. The wine graces the palate with weightless elegance in its gently spiced dark fruit. This sensual, dazzling Echezeaux is a jewel. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2033. This is a gorgeous set of wines from Etienne and Marielle Grivot that captures the essence of several of Vosne’s most illustrious vineyards. Grivot encourages slow malos and leaves the wines on the lees for approximately 15 months after the vinification. New oak ranges from 15-20% for the villages, 30-50% for the 1ers and 40-70% for the grands crus. Based on the wines I tasted 2009 looks like a much more consistent vintage than 2008. The finest 2008s are also well worth considering, but there are more highs and lows, especially in the entry part of the range. Importer: Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Napa CA; tel. (707) 299-2600

Good deep red. Complex, perfumed aromas of black raspberry, minerals and underbrush. Sweeter than the Clos Vougeot, with bright acidity framing the intense black cherry and dark raspberry flavors. The gripping, sappy, firmly tannic finish mounts impressively, saturating the palate and perking up the taste buds. Terrific fruit here.

Grivot thinks the tannins are temporarily accentuated as a result of the recent bottling, and for now I won’t try to predict its cellar potential. Grivot’s 2008 Echezeaux features a bracing red melange of currant, raspberry and cherry allied to smoked meat, coriander, iris, and blond tobacco. Sleek, polished, faintly tart, subtly smoky and underlain by a marrow-rich suggestion of meat broth, this finishes with a vibrant, dynamic exchange of sweetly ripe yet refreshing red berries with their seeds and pits, chalk, and salt. A complex, lip-smacking Pinot that manages somehow to be both soothing and invigorating, it should grow in stature over at least the next half dozen years and be worth following for 15 or more. “We never want rapid malos,” notes Etienne Grivot, “but those in 2008 were not especially late or long by our standards – no longer than in 2002 or 2005. And I didn’t sulfur the wines when they were completed, because the volatile acids were really low and the pHs were very good” (i.e. low). Instead, most of Grivot’s 2008s were only sulfured after the 2009 harvest. Grivot gave them at least 3 weeks in tank before bottling, which took place between January and early April. Based on my intuitions and Grivot’s testimony, several of his 2008s were suffering significantly from post-bottling depression when I tasted them in late April, so readers should bear this is mind and recognize that my scores, in isolation, might prove misleadingly low. Grivot characterizes the 2008s as “dynamic but introverted” and “less accessible” than either the 2006s or 2007s, but that contrast appears to have been exacerbated by circumstances on this occasion. (In view of the delightful showing of two Grivot 2007s in April, I regret that I simply wasn’t able to taste more wines from that collection in the time available to me.) Importer: Diageo Chateau and Estate Wines Company, New York, NY; tel. (212) 419-1400

The 2008 Echézeaux Grand Cru, poured from magnum as there were no bottles left at the Domaine, has a rustic bouquet, quite ferrous in style, actually similar to the DRC that I tasted the previous week. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, again, quite ferrous with modest depth. Just a little greenness on the finish, but there is not bitterness here. Enjoyable in a mature way.