The 2012 Grands Echézeaux was picked on September 22, 24 and 25, at 27 hectoliters per hectare. Compared to the Echézeaux the nose is more demure, perhaps more refined, does not feel the urge to "put it all out" as it were. Reticent is the word - yet the precision and delineation is undeniable. The palate is medium-bodied with very supple tannin, here a mixture of red and black fruit, a little broodier and more introspective than its "cousin" but with greater persistence in the mouth. It unfurls on the finish: hints of dry tobacco and cedar, leaving you with the impression of a "masculine" Grands Echézeaux, one built for the long haul. 987 cases produced.

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A more deeply pitched and more complex nose also evidences plenty of floral influence on the gorgeously spicy red and black pinot fruit scents that are trimmed in just enough wood to notice. There is excellent volume and punch to the big-bodied, concentrated and brooding flavors that also brim with an abundance of dry extract, all wrapped in an intensely mineral-driven, explosive and strikingly persistent finish. What I find interesting is how such a big wine delivers this much power and muscle with no impression of weight or undue heaviness. As is usually the case at this early juncture, this is very tight, compact and linear and a wine that is going to need at least 18 to 20 years to reveal its full potential.

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