2015 Echézeaux Grand Cru Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux

Mid cherry red. Dusty, peppery red fruit. Very dry like the Chaumes but has a bit more fruit depth to balance. Unwelcoming for now, very tightly corseted but just about in balance. (JH) Drink 2025-2035.

Here too moderate reduction blocks an assessment of the nose. While this isn't as powerful or structured as the Clos de Vougeot there is slightly better depth to the concentrated and well-delineated medium weight flavors that brim with sappy dry extract that does a fine job of buffering the moderately firm tannins on the balanced and hugely long finale. This is excellent and actually quite a serious Ech.

The 2015 Echezeaux Grand Cru is very pretty, opening in the glass with notes of sweet cherry, raspberry, cinnamon, rose and spice. On the palate, the wine is full- bodied and sappy, with an ample chassis of fine-grained tannin, bright acids, good depth and length, and a solid core. Like most of Charles Lachaux's 2015s, this is shutting down, but it should be exceptional in the fullness of time. This is produced from a parcel in Rouges du Bas: one of the steeper, higher-altitude parts of Echézeaux, where the soil is thinner and the wines tend to be more tensile. 2024 - 2055.

Bright medium red. Vibrant, perfumed nose offers scents of red berries, flowers and cinnamon accented by a minty topnote. Sappy and savory in the mouth, at once sweeter and saltier than the Clos Vougeot. Much more pliant and approachable too, and already communicating personality; I like the pepper and spice notes from the stems. Finishes with firm spine, the ripe tannins saturating the tongue.

(100% vendange entier, along with the following 2015s): Good full red. Cherry and raspberry liqueur aromas are lifted by a spicy quality. Supple, plush and seamless, with its red fruit and spice flavors accented by minerality. Lovely concentration and sweetness here without any heaviness, no doubt due in part to the energy brought by the stems. The very long finish features suave, building tannins and classic dryness.

A sleek, laserlike profile expresses plenty of cherry, strawberry and blueberry fruit, accented by spice and a stony, chalky mineral element. This will take a few years to decompress, but the long, intensely flavored aftertaste indicates potential. Best from 2024 through 2045.-B.S.