What's Pressoir Drinking? Echezeaux Study at Anton's

August 17, 2021
by Raj Vaidya

Who says August in NYC is too hot to drink red wine (and a few Grand Cru whites)?

Last week we decided that a 97 degree evening in the summer was the perfect environment to do a study of the Grand Cru vineyard Echezeaux!  A slightly overheated, yet perfectly enthusiastic group of merrymakers assembled with Daniel and me at Anton’s in Greenwich Village, one of my favorite neighbourhood restaurants.

We started out with a delicious magnum of Champagne Delamotte, just to cool off a bit, and followed that with a flight of Grand Cru white Burgundies.  This proved refreshing for sure, but the group was eager to move onto red before too long…

To begin, a vertical of Domaine Jean Grivot’s Echezeaux, featuring the lauded 2009, 2010 and 2012 vintages.  The 2010 was totally the star this evening, showing more energy and balance than the somewhat overly rich ’09 and the slightly shy and austere ’12.  Bursting with notes of cola and spice from a noticeable yet pleasant bit of oak.   

The next flight was an exciting and surprising one, featuring Pierre Duroché’s rare negociant bottling of this Grand Cru from 2017, which showed tremendous vibrancy and elegance which is the hallmark of that vintage, alongside the somewhat burlier examples from 2012 via the Domaines d’Eugenie and Romanée-Conti.  The Eugenie over delivered, from the parcel historically known from the former ownership, the Réné Engel estate, with a dense core of fruit and great length on the palate.  The Romanée-Conti performed beautifully as well, the only wine in this flight to use whole cluster fermentation which certainly made it stand out even more.

The fireworks were ignited with the last flight, from one of my longstanding favorites in Burgundy, the Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg.  These bottles showed phenomenally well, with the 2014 a bit reticent and quiet at first but blossoming well, the 2010 showing tremendous breadth and minerality and the surprising wine of the night, for me at least, the 2008.  An often underrated and underappreciated vintage, this 08 showed none of the vegetal or overly acidic notes of the vintage, but rather expressed perfect harmony and precision and remained on my palate for hours afterwards, and in the front of my mind well into the next morning!

The wines:

Domaine Louis Michel Vaudésir Chablis Grand Cru   2017

Etienne Sauzet Bienvenues Bâtard Montrachet Grand Cru   2017

Domaine de Montille Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru  2017

Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux Grand Cru   2010

Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux Grand Cru   2012

Domaine Jean Grivot Echezeaux Grand Cru   2009

Domaine Duroche Echezeaux Grand Cru       2017

Domaine d’Eugenie Echezeaux Grand Cru     2012

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux    2012

Domaine Georges Mugneret Gibourg Echezeaux Grand Cru 2014

Domaine Georges Mugneret Gibourg Echezeaux Grand Cru 2010

Domaine Georges Mugneret Gibourg Echezeaux Grand Cru 2008

Grands Crus from Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg, at Daniel

About last night… An overview of the Mugneret-Gibourg lineup from a memorable Pressoir.wine dinner at Restaurant Daniel

By Raj Vaidya and Edouard Bourgeois

December 8, 2020

Last night we were all thrilled to get the opportunity to taste five vintages side by side from 2 prestigious Grands Crus, Ruchottes-Chambertin and Echezeaux, all from the famed Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg. (By the way, I want to remind you that the recording of the interview with Lucie Teillaud Mugneret from Domaine Mugneret Gibourg is available for you Club Members with your login access on our website).

Starting with the difficult 2011 vintage, the two wines expressed the signature of that challenging harvest, showing notes of root vegetables, dirt and a hint of a vegetal character. In my opinion, the Echezeaux outperformed the Ruchottes-Chambertin. I really found the fruit of the former to be very pretty and airy, while the latter appeared sturdier and more serious. A nice pairing with the sunchoke velouté, and a nice way to ease into a terrific series of wine pairings with the elegant menu designed by Daniel Boulud.

What followed was probably my favorite flight. Paired with an incredibly tender wood fired octopus, the 2014’s shined as bright as you could have hoped! While 2015 may steal the show with higher scores and overall praise for its muscular energy, I often prefer the more delicate character of the pinot noirs from 2014. That year, Mother Nature did throw a few curve balls though, starting with hailstorms, mostly concentrated on the Cote de Beaune, and later on, the apparition of a damaging fruit fly, the Drosophila Suzukii, apparently only interested in red grapes, thus not affecting Chardonnay grapes… However, the quality of fruit was impressive and so pure.

As interesting as it gets, we also opened a Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru 2008 from the domaine. The wine was juicy and perfectly balanced. Lighter on its feet than the grands crus from the same vintage for sure, but with enough personality and depth.

~ Edouard

After our little speed bump of the 08 Gevrey 1er Cru (which was actually the young vines of Ruchottes, bottled thus labeled for a period in the mid aughts), we dove into one of my favorite vintages for the Domaine, the bright and ethereal 2008’s. The Ruchottes held a clear edge of quality between the two wines, more precise without a touch of austerity, while the Echezeaux exhibited a bit more of a meaty edge while still being a bit blockish. After an hour or so the Ech’ caught up in quality, but by then we’d moved onto my favorite vintage of the current century thus far…

We paired the 2010’s with a spectacular dish of Pintade, or guinea hen, roasted and served with mushrooms, truffles and spelt. The wines exhibited the signature density and finesse of the vintage, and were incredibly long on the palate, perfectly balanced between pleasurable dark red fruit and the beginnings of earthy, tertiary flavors and aromas which melded perfectly with the truffles.

We finished with a selection of perfectly ripe cheeses and a pair of 99’s. The prodigious 1999 vintage produced wines with incredible depth and complexity. These bottles did not disappoint, though they were not as fleshy and precise as the 2010’s they followed. More of an earthy style, even a tad bit more rustic than the polish of the more contemporary bottles preceding. But the length was tremendous!

A glorious night of delicious Burgundy, what’s better than that?

~Raj