Vintus

Échézeaux, Grand Cru

At 93 acres Échézeaux is a large Grand Cru, and the specific vine site of Échézeaux matters tremendously.  Lucien Le Moine has been producing one of the very finest examples of Échézeaux for several years running.  Mounir says that you can make the analogy that Échézeaux is the syrah of Burgundy.  On the Flagey side there is a flat exposition and the limestone is not as evident.   As a result the wine has a licorice, smoky note which almost brings you to the Côte-Rôtie.  You don't want a lot of maceration or extraction in this wine, it just needs time sitting on its lees

• 2009 Vintage

   There is more talk and interest about 2009 in Burgundy than in any vintage since 2005.  Mounir Saouma has warned us to be careful, however.  He loves this vintage, and in fact believes it is the greatest he has seen in his two decades in Burgundy.   He believes the fruit had everything from the start, and the wines from the beginning were healthy and beautifully balanced.  The major issue was to understand and respect the wines, and avoid working them, since they already had everything they needed in superb balance.  Overly working the wines, he believes, resulted in a loss of freshness and delicacy.

    2009 is the first vintage at Lucien Le Moine that Mounir did not do any lees stirring whatsoever, and as usual he never racked the wines in their nearly two years in barrel.  He didn’t add sulfur until a few months before bottling, and yet his wines are still completely fresh; some whites he describes as even having a tint of green.  The Lucien Le Moine 2009s across the board are beautifully pure and focused, with the exquisite harmony of truly great wines.

  • "A brilliant nose of black cherry, blackberry, smoke, mineral and spice introduces this intensely flavored, complex red, which is powerful but harmonious and structured, with all the elements in place. The finish is long and spicy. Best from 2016 through 2036."  94 Points Wine Spectator

  •  "Bright, deep red. Complex, terroir-driven aromas of redcurrant, raspberry, minerals, licorice, smoke and tobacco, plus a whiff of fruit syrup. Dense, primary and penetrating, but already shows the compelling sweetness of fruit of the vintage. Not yet especially complex but stains the palate on the very long, vibrant aftertaste. An extremely young wine of great finesse." 92-95 Points International Wine Cellar

  •  "A highly spiced nose of hoisin and anise adds breadth to the sexy blue and black pinot fruit aromas that give way to rich, sappy and mouth coating big-bodied flavors that possess excellent volume and plenty of mid-palate density before culminating in a mocha and oak-infused finish that exhibits a dusty quality." 90-93 Points Burghound

• 2008 Vintage

  • "The three barrels of Le Moine 2008 Echezeaux display smoked and roasted meats, red currant and cherry spiced with clove and cinnamon. (It's not hard to smell why Saouma calls this his -Cote Rotie of the vintage.-) There is a surprisingly doughy richness to the palate despite persistently tart-edged, bright red fruits, and a faintly lip-numbing combination of alcohol and tannin reinforces a sense of finishing flavor opacity. But this might pull itself more together by bottling. One can probably safely assume that it will remain fresh for more than a decade." 90-91+ Points Wine Advocate

  • "Good deep red. Exotic raspberry and smoke on the nose, with a hint of reduction. Lush, creamy and sweet; less detailed than the Malconsorts and very ripe. Conveys an impression of stronger extraction-and plenty of oak too. Finishes very long, with substantial ripe tannins." 90 Points International Wine Cellar

• 2007 Vintage

  As Mounir Saouma says, “2007 saw a fresh summer – when we say fresh summer, we mean well-balanced rain and sunny days.   There were cool but not cold days, days with some rain and sun, but not exaggerated either way.  And you see in the wines there is beautiful acidity, but not as much as 2008, and nice sweetness, but not as much as 2006.” 

   

  This character of mid-way but not extreme in many areas resulted in wines that took a long time to reveal their nature.  “The wines started fruity and the tannins were firm, and slowly we started seeing a kind of melding between sweetness and acidity after the malolactic a year later; we started seeing the real character of the wines after 14 months.  

   

  This development of the vintage is the reason that 2007 was the latest bottling Lucien Le Moine has ever done, and why they were the last producer in all of Burgundy to bottle.  Typically Lucien Le Moine starts bottling in January or February; in 2007 they started in February, but the majority of bottling took place from May to September.  Mounir aged all his 2007 wines on their lees, without sulfur, and never racked.   

   

  Mounir compares 2007 and 2006 a lot; they will both be vintages that are approachable and will last, and their technical numbers are similar, but they are physically and aromatically in completely different worlds.  “2006 is more about sweetness and for some people a heavier character; 2007 is more about freshness.  We will enjoy 2007, but it doesn’t take anything from the aging. 

   

  Some general commentaries on the Crus in 2007:  for people who love freshness and silkiness, with tannins that melt away, the Vosne-Romanées, Volnays, Chambolle-Musignys, and Morey-Saint-Denis show ethereal balance and almost transparent tannins.  For those that think 2007 is a light and easy year, the Gevrey-Chambertins, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommards and Cortons will show them depth and power. 

  • "A ripe, pure and very spicy nose that is not particularly elegant but it is strikingly complex, layered and stylish with ripe, powerful, concentrated and mineral-driven flavors dripping with dry extract that really coats the palate and completely buffers the structural elements on the wonderfully long finish. This is a most impressive example and proves that Échézeaux is capable of delivering grand cru quality even if it often does not." 92-94 Points Burghound, “Don’t Miss”

  • "Good dark red. Aromas of dark cherry, black raspberry, minerals and smoke. Rich, sweet and chewy, but currently showing less detail and lift than the Clos Vougeot. But this too is powerful and pure, finishing with superb breadth and a serious tannic structure. No shortage of energy on the aftertaste." 91-93 Points International Wine Cellar

• 2006 Vintage

  Mounir Saouma’s approach to the 2006 vintage differed from many. His growers picked late, allowing the fine September weather to draw out the maturity of the grapes and compensate for a cool, wet August.  It was a risk, and not a typical vintage for Mounir, who usually harvests earlier than most, giving him the good acid levels he likes.  The reds express the typicity of their terroirs, and will be enjoyable to drink earlier than the 2005’s, but also possess the heft and structure to age nicely. 

  • "Here the wood plays on the edge of fighting for center stage with the strikingly, indeed exuberantly spicy nose that mixes red, blue and black berry fruit notes plus warm earth hints that continue onto the rich, full and serious medium weight flavors blessed with impressive amounts of dry extract and terrific length. As I noted in Issue 29, Echézeaux was blessed in 2006 and this is just one more outstanding example." 93 Points Burghound