Wine & Spirits - April 2021 - 103

Focus Burgundy
ECHEZEAUX
524001

97 | Lucien Le Moine

$450

2018 Echezeaux Grand Cru ^ The first
impression is delicate and floral, like the
morning sun on limestone where roses grow
at the edge of a vine row. Then that fragrance
lasts for minutes, its power riveting all attention, its elegance describing perfectly ripe
berries with perfectly ripe seeds. The massive tannins have a dark mineral grip, adding
to the addictive, almost magnetic attraction
of this wine. Most of this wine comes from
the higher part of En Orveaux, in the north
of the grand cru, above Clos de Vougeot and
close to Musigny. This is a powerfully concentrated Echezeaux and yet, as Tina Vaughn of
NYC's The Simone described it, a sip is like
a cloud, or like a dream, when you wake up
and wonder what just happened. § Vintus, NY
524000

93 | Jean Grivot

$569

2018 Echezeaux Grand Cru ^ Mathilde Grivot's family owns vines in Les Cruots, at the
south reaches of Echezeaux, neighboring
Les Suchots. Those vines provided a markedly fruity Echezeaux in 2018, with persistent
notes of sour plum and red cherry, fig and
star anise. The tannins create a mouthwatering impression, and will sustain the wine for
years; this needs at least ten to show its best. §
Winebow Imports, NY

GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN
524032

94 | Domaine Michel
Magnien et Fils

$120

2018 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les
Cazetiers ^ Just north of Clos St-Jacques,
Cazetiers is an east-facing slope where Frédéric Magnien farms vines that range up to
90 years old. Like his other top wines, he
vinifies part of this lot in used barrels and
part in clay pots. When this combination of
old-vine fruit and naked vinification hits, as
it does in this Gevrey, Magnien unleashes
the beautiful energy of his vineyard. Here,
the texture bristles with red-fruit generosity
and a mineral wash of crushed stone. Scented
with summery black-raspberry flavor, saturated with freshness, this is lovely to drink
as a young Burgundy and should age with
grace. § Winebow Imports, NY
524025

nins that add dimension and detail to the
fruit, coming together in beautiful richness.
The persistence of flavor lends it the credentials that usually come only from a grander
provenance. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY
524031

93 | Louis Jadot

$230

2018 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos StJacques Domaine Louis Jadot ^ This has the
monolithic power of a young grand cru, its
dark red fruit subdued but present, its earthy
tannic structure completely enveloping the
wine. An update on a traditional style of
long-lived Gevrey, this is a wine to treasure
in your cellar. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY
524023

92 | Jean-Claude Boisset

$96

2018 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Murots ^
Selected from a vineyard at the base of the
slope, east of the D974, this is a refined
Gevrey, with gracious power and an elegant,
old-school feel. Its fine-grained tannins combine black-peppercorn spice with the berryskin flavors of ripe black currants. Rather
than setting out to be grand, this is a lovely
warm-vintage Burgundy that delivers rich,
meaty satisfaction with restraint. § Boisset Collection, Napa, CA
524034

92 | Louis Jadot

$310

2018 Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru
Domaine Louis Jadot ^ Jadot's vines on this
east-facing slope produced a potent and
succulent 2018, surprisingly accessible and
fruit-forward as a young grand cru. The ripe
fruit has the richness of a red-skinned peach,
bosky and delicious. All that beautiful fruit
keeps the tannins' earthiness at bay, though
they are perceptible underneath and should
sustain freshness as the wine develops with
age. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY
524033

91 | Domaine Michel
Magnien et Fils

$322

$73

2018 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru ^
All incipient, this wine is hard to read in its
youth. It's potent and lasting, the concentration given by vines planted in 1953 and 1955
on limestone breaking down into gravel.
Sour-cherry notes meet blacker fruit tannins
in a finish that hints at allspice, roses and resinous tobacco, all of it captured in a mineraldriven acidity. Cool and tight, this is a wine
to revisit in ten years. § Winebow Imports, NY
524030

2018 Gevrey-Chambertin ^ A stunning village wine, here's an example of how climate
change is infiltrating the classifications of
Burgundy. While this feels completely modern in its sleek black-cherry depths, it's also
completely grounded in the earth, with tan-

2018 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Estournelles St-Jacques Domaine Louis Jadot ^
Facing south and east toward the village of
Gevrey, this hillside grew a bold 2018, its
silken texture holding a pool of ripe fruit,

93 | Louis Jadot

90 | Louis Jadot

$126

generously fragrant in strawberries and
plums, with enough earthy structure to hold
it all in place. § Kobrand, Purchase, NY

LADOIX
524196

90 | Jean-Claude Boisset

$55

2018 Ladoix 1er Cru Hautes Mourottes ^
The red and black of Burgundy's fruit expressions merge in this Ladoix, bright and floral on one side, dark and spicy with blackraspberry grip on the other. It's simple and
friendly, an honest Burgundy with informal
grace. § Boisset Collection, Napa, CA

MARSANNAY
524147

91 | Jean-Claude Boisset

$37

2018 Marsannay (Best Buy) ^ Ripe times two,
this is a soil-driven wine perfumed with wild
fruit. The mineral tannins provide formidable structure without excess weight; they
also provide the wine's earthy black richness.
Give this a year to mellow, then serve it with
grilled baby lamb. § Boisset Collection, Napa,
CA

MOREY-ST-DENIS
524157

95 | Domaine Michel
Magnien et Fils

$262

2018 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru ^ Layer
Frédéric Magnien's biodynamic practice over
the power of Clos de la Roche, the thin soils
and the old vines rooted in limestone rock;
age the fruit of those vines in clay pots and
some of it in old barrels; then open the bottle
at two years of age and prepare for delirious
luxury. Savor the beauty of its low limestone
growl as it tells its life story in an accent finely
tuned to its home town of Morey. Translated
to flavor, this is all umami compression for
now, more about life force than anything
else. § Winebow Imports, NY
524151

92 | Lou Dumont

$58

2018 Morey-St-Denis ^ A Tokyo sommelier,
Koji Nakada studied enology in Beaune.
Now based in Gevrey-Chambertin, Nakada
makes this dark, earthy Morey with the fruit
of 40-year-old vines. It's richly layered and
joyously rustic, a friendly embrace of raspberry depths and chipped-limestone tannins. §
Shiverick Imports, Los Angeles, CA
524155

91 | Domaine Bertagna

$350

2018 Clos St-Denis Grand Cru ^ Silken, ripe
and rich, this wine's textural pleasure has
been amplified by its time in oak, gaining
walnut and chocolate notes that add to the
sweet spice of the tannins. The fruit is round
WINE & SPIRITS

APRIL 2021

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Wine & Spirits - April 2021

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