2007 Echézeaux Grand Cru

x000D In spite of the early sex appeal provided by the barrels Mounir Saouma uses, crafted by cooper Stephane Chassin from Jupille oak, I found less easy sweetness in a number of the Lucien Le Moine 2007s, not to mention the 2008s. Saouma believes that this is largely because both of these vintages have very healthy acidity levels, and that these are the two most "classic" sets of red wines he has made to date. So old-school Burgundy drinkers who fear that these wines are too voluptuous and alluring in their youth to last in bottle (usually without having had any direct experience of them) should reconsider these wines. For the first time, Saouma didn't use any SO2 between the time he brought the barrels to his cellar and the end of the malos, some of which lingered into September. The top 2008s here offer great potential and should be long-lived.

"There were really two choices with pinot noir in 2007," said Mounir Saouma. "You could do quick vinifications and quick malos and privilege the fruit and the attack of the wines, or you could delay everything, leaving the wines on their lees to make them deeper and richer, like we did." Saouma told me his wines began with a lot of fruit and almost aggressive tannins, plus strong acidity, especially those he buys from the Cote de Nuits, and he sulfured his barrels to prevent the malo from happening early. In the end, the secondary fermentations mostly finished in September. "And it was a year in which you had to wait for mature pinot noir grapes despite the risk of rot," he went on. "It was a good thing that we had the experience of 2003." He summarized: "Two thousand six is about sweetness, while 2007 is about freshness. And I prefer both years to 2005, because the fruit of 2005 is less typical for Burgundy."