ÉCHEZEAUX

2017 Grand Cru Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg

EN PRIMEUR

So pretty. Small firmish berries and then beautifully intense fruit core. sweet red juicy is peppy and not too glossy. Nice grip from such super-fine tannins. There is a lift and a clarity to this which is gorgeous. Such poise and flow. Impressive. Not a beast, a genteel, quietly powerful wine with very classy restraint a classic 'house' touch to this Grand Cru. Drinking range: 2021 - 2029L&S (Nov 2018)

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The 2017 Echézeaux Grand Cru is far less strict than the previous bottle I tasted at the Domaine. This offers plenty of fruit on the nose, plush for the vintage with copious kirsch, Morello cherries and orange pith scents. Sensual and alluring. Just a hint of green olive lurks in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with finely-chiseled tannins, still plush with a judicious sprinkling of black pepper on the finish. This is a very impressive showing with a disarming persistence in the mouth. Tasted at Maison de Colombier in Beaune. Drinking range: 2023 - 2048 Rating: 94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2023)

The 2017 Echézeaux Grand Cru, which contains 20% whole bunch, has a very perfumed and floral bouquet, wilted rose petals infusing the vibrant red berry fruit and a touch of sous-bois in the background. The palate is medium-bodied and quite "strict" in style. A structured and slightly hard Echézeaux at the moment that will require several years to soften. Patience required. Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jan 2020)

(the blend has now changed from 50/50 to two-thirds/one-third from the climats of Les Rouges du Bas and Les Quartiers de Nuits, respectively; 15% whole cluster in 2017). A much more floral-inflected nose displays a lovely array of spice elements to the exotic tea and plum liqueur aromas. There is impressive density to the extract-rich medium-bodied flavors that possess a velvety and seductive texture while delivering excellent persistence. Like the Feusselottes, this is more robust than usual and is going to require extended keeping. Drinking range: 2032 - Rating: 92-94 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2019)

Mid crimson. Lots of relaxed fruit and density. Still embryonic but all the building blocks are there. Rich without being sweet. Drinking range: 2024 - 2036 Rating: 17+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2019)

The excellent 2017 Echezeaux Grand Cru offers up a bouquet of raspberries, cherries, dried flowers and wood smoke, subtly framed by new oak, that's quite fruit-driven and expressive this year. On the palate, the wine is medium to full-bodied, satiny and layered, with an expansive attack and a generous core of vibrant fruit that cloaks its fine-grained framing of tannin. As usual, this hails from two parcels—one in the lieu-dit of Les Quartiers de Nuits the other in Les Rouges du Bas. Rating: 93-95 William Kelley, The Wine Advocate (Jan 2019)

The 2017 Echézeaux Grand Cru is an equal blend of fruit from Les Quartiers de Nuits and Les Rouges du Bas (usually it consists more of the latter.) It has an exquisite, pure bouquet of small red cherries, kirsch, orange zest and mineral aromas that leap exuberantly from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, and the 60% new oak is well integrated. Red fruit dovetails into blacker fruit mixed with allspice and white pepper toward the finish. Superb. Drinking range: 2023 - 2045 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jan 2019)

Rouge du Bas (higher situated and older vines) and Quartières de Nuits (small berries and thicker skin and this is always fresher) - 50/50 with the harvest organised to pick the same day. 8 barrels, but expect more going forward with the sharecropping coming to an end. This is succulent and juicy and pure. Silky tannins. There is depth and density and a certain suavity. A long finish. I like this. Rating: 19.15 Sarah Marsh MW, The Burgundy Briefing (Dec 2018)

The Mugneret sisters' Échézeaux comes from two contrasting parcels in Les Rouges du Bas and Les Quartiers de Nuits. It's quite oaky at the moment, thanks to 75% new wood, but there's plenty of plush, textured fruit to soak up the splinters. It's floral and refined with the feminine touch that typifies the domaine's wines. Drinking range: 2022 - 2032 Rating: 96 Tim Atkin MW - Decanter (Nov 2018)

Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg was founded in 1933 on the marriage of Jeanne Gibourg and André Mugneret. Holdings then consisted of Bourgogne, village Nuits, village Vosne and Echezeaux. Their son Georges, an opthalmologist by day, added to the vineyards, but his acquisitions (Nuits 1ers Crus Vignes Rondes and Chaignots, Chambolle 1er Cru Feusselottes, and Grands Crus Clos Vougeot and Ruchottes Chambertin) were kept separate as Domaine Georges Mugneret.

On Georges' death in 1988, his widow Jacqueline and daughter Marie-Christine took over. Marie-Andrée, the younger daughter joined them a little later having completed her studies as an oenologist. In 2009 Jacqueline retired and the two domaine names were put together to become Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg, ending the prior confusion of labels.

The sisters have proved more than safe hands as far as the winemaking is concerned, and these are top-flight Burgundies with that elusive balance of enough concentration allied with delicacy of expression and the capability to age well. All the vineyard management has been brought in-house (the domaine previously relied on two métayeurs for part of the vineyard) and the quality has reached new heights, its wines some of the most sought-after in the Côte de Nuits.

In 2017 Marie-Christine 's daughter Lucie joined the domaine, and Marion and Fanny, daughters of Marie-Andrée are now also part of the team.

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