2021 Echézeaux Grand Cru

Winemaker Arnaud Mortet has been on a killer run of form in recent vintages and seems to relish the challenges posed in 2021.

“It was a small yield in the north of Gevrey, from Lavaux Saint-Jacques to Brochon it was 15hL/ha, whereas in the south of the appellation, it was 25hL/ha. This is because of the frost. In Echézeaux I used 800 candles per hectare, raising the temperature from -9° Celsius to +2° Celsius. The density of candles is very important - if you use 300-400 candles, it is ineffective. But more catastrophic was the hail. Afterward it was a difficult summer, and we worked a lot in the vines to tackle mildew and oïdium. We did half the treatments in time and [by harvest time] the leaves and bunches were perfect. I decided to do a green harvest to ensure we have the best balance and quality. It’s a ‘millésime de vigneron’. I like this kind of vintage - when you have a lot of work. We started picking on 25 September. I used a lot of whole bunches and pedicels for all the Premier and Grand Crus, cutting out the main axis of the stems as we have done since 2015. We had a nice acidity, so using whole bunches was not a problem. I used less new oak, for example reducing from 70% to around one-third of new oak, then less than 40% new oak for the Premier Crus. All the wines have a half degree of chaptalisation and will be bottled in April.”

Mortet certainly gambled in using whole stems across his entire range, though I am sure in hindsight he would counterargue that there was no risk in the first place. But it works. This was one of the strongest and most consistent set of 2021s that I encountered during my tour of the appellation, scintillating and intense expressions of Pinot Noir that had so much energy I worried they would leap from my glass. As you approach the top flight of Premier and Grand Crus, you begin to wonder how they could have been born in such a traumatic growing season. But they were.