Echezeaux Grand Cru 2005

-- Parker: Grivot’s 2005 Echezeaux leads with black raspberry and tart, high-toned red raspberry, fresh ginger, orange zest, black truffle, and wisps of wood smoke. Bright, high-toned, berry essences and pungent spice and smokiness dominate in the mouth as well, with a superb concentration and purity of sweet, creamy fruit coating the palate. Low-toned minerals and meat stock emerge in the wine’s long finish, but its energetic, invigorating brightness and primary sweetness of fruit remain undiminished. Etienne Grivot aimed this year for gentle extraction (essentially without pigeage), then watchful preservation of the freshness, subtleties and refinement inherent in near-perfect raw material. He performed some very light chaptalization to extend the fermentations. Given the health and natural concentration of his vinous raw material, he felt no need to sulfur or rack the wines until shortly prior to bottling (without filtration), which was the stage at which I tasted. 93-94/100