2005 Echezeaux

The Bocquenet 2005 Echezeaux – from high up in the Rouges du Bas section, adjoining Les Beaux Monts – exhibits abundant, nose- and palate-filling black fruits, prominent sweet spiciness, formidable though fine tannins, and a long, sweet, smoky, very lightly cooked and caramelized finish that is sumptuous even with the tannins. It will take years for them to round out, but some progress may well be made in tank prior to bottling. Still, I would opt to cellar it for at least 5-7 years. Bocquenet keeps threatening to retire (while he looks quite young) but let’s hope he’s bluffing, because his wines continue to offer consistent quality (as witness his sweetly-fruited, well-concentrated and moderately ageworthy 2004 Aux St.-Julien) in a style all Bocquenet’s own. Nothing but new wood has been used on these wines for years, nor are they filtered, but they are assembled into large tanks after ten or eleven months and left until bottling, nowadays generally not more than a few weeks before harvest. Bocquenet’s rather fearless extraction in 2005 resulted in wines that are much more similar to (good!) 2003s than are the 2005s of other growers. A Peter Vezan Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 42 55 42 93.