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Wine Description
The Story
The wine-growing village of Flagey-Échezeaux lies in the " Plain ", so-called, between Vougeot and Vosne-Romanée in the Côte de Nuits. Facing east, the Grands-Échezeaux vines are a prolongation of Musigny following the North-South axis of the Côte, but more regular and less broken in their layout. At the bottom end, the " Climat " known as La Combe d'Orveau separates them from Musigny. The Échezeaux vineyards, for their part, divide the Clos de Vougeot from the Premier Cru vines of Vosne-Romanée.
Grands-Échezeaux and Échezeaux both date their Grands Crus AOCs from July 31, 1937. Like the Clos de Vougeot (from which they are separated only by a wall), they were founded by the monks of the abbey of Cîteaux and date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Their name derives from chesaux, a word of Gallo-Roman origin meaning a group of dwellings, presumably referring to an ancient hamlet.
Belonging geologically to the Jurassic (175 million years BC), the GrandsÉchezeaux vineyards are fairly homogeneous and lie close to the upper part of the Clos de Vougeot. Gradient: 3-4%. Soil: clay-limestone overlying Bajocien limestone. Altitudes: 250 metres. The Échezeaux Climats have more diverse soils (largely bajocien marls with pebbly overlay). Altitudes vary from 230 to a little over 300 metres (13% gradient at mid-slope). Up-slope, the soil is deep (70-80 cm). Gravels, red alluvium, yellowish marl, etc., make up quite a complex mosaic.
Red: its colour is ruby, shading towards the darker tones of magenta and purple. Its bouquet is redolent of animal, spice notes, underbrush, and prune, evolving with age towards musk, leather, fur and mushroom. When young, its aromas suggest rose, violet and fresh cherry. On the palate, there is a heightened attack and an agreeable balance between supple tannins and fully-rounded flavour. The dense texture and tight grain of these wines fully open after 4-5 years in the cellar.
Wines so powerful and full demand to be matched with dishes of the same calibre. Virile, four-sided tannins cry out for roast lamb, rib steak, or joints of game. Autumn and winter dishes in the right setting match the profound and meaty personality of these great wines : braised beef or pork, for example, or any other good red meat. Fine, whole-milk, soft-centred cheeses will also do them proud.
Serving temperature : 15 to 16 °C.
Wine Information
1998 Harvest
Throughout most of the year, when everywhere in the world climates were shaken by exceptional weather disturbances, Burgundy had its share of misfortune with some spring frost and hail sometimes striking the same places successively. The Côte de Nuits and our Domaine in particular were fortunately spared by these catastrophic conditions, but during the whole period we alternately went through cold and warm weather spells.
After a mild winter, the « débourrement » (budburst) began precociously in early April, but a cold spell arrived around April 15th causing severe spring frosts in some places. There was no damage at the Domaine, but these low temperatures nevertheless provoked some « coulure » which would later take the form of « millerandage » and reduce the production accordingly.
The month of May was fine and warm. The growth was so rapid that the vineyard work, especially the « ebourgeonnage » (debudding) had to be done very quickly.
The first flowers appeared at the beginning of June. But a cold period set in and the flowering was finally spread over several weeks. We could still observe some « coulure », therefore « millerandage » and we already knew that we would have to content ourselves with small quantities.
The heat returned at the end of June and the vegetation began to grow very fast. There again, the work, especially the « accolage » (tying-down) had to be done so quickly that our teams had difficulties in keeping up. As far as I can remember, we have never experienced such stressful and labour intensive conditions.
In August however, there occurred one of the factors that would characterize the 1998 vintage : an exceptional heat wave (temperatures rose up to 43°C) which was both beneficial in quickening the grape ripening and bad in that it created a significant « stress » among some vines, especially the younger ones, and provoked everywhere « grillure » on the parts of the grapes facing the sun. It is the first time we saw this phenomenon develop to such an extent. Those grapes would of course be eliminated at the harvest.
At the end of August, the heat lessened slightly and we hoped for a little rain. This fortunately occurred and the ripening accelerated. This rain continued however and on September 15th we were really concerned, as rot began to appear and ripening stopped.
Then, at the very last moment, thanks to one of those miracles to which the Burgundian climate is so familiar, the fine weather returned, more than fine weather, where conditions were quite ideal : north wind, clear weather, not too hot, everything that was necessary to stop the rot and help the ripening.
We began the harvest on September 19th, under the sun, with the young vines already very ripe :
- Sept. 19 & 20 : young vines
- Sept. 20, 21 & 22 : Romanée-St-Vivant, Richebourg
- Sept. 22, 23 & 25 : La Tâche
- Sept. 24 : Romanée-Conti
- Sept. 25 : Montrachet; Grands-Echezeaux
- Sept. 26 & 27 : Echezeaux
The whole harvest took place under a beautiful weather. It was only raining on the penultimate day. Harvest was completed on, Sunday 27th, on a sunny cool day.
Never have our teams of harvesters worked better : « haute couture » once again, in the vineyards first of all where the selection is most important , and on the sorting table also which « refines » the vineyard work and eliminates the grapes that bear « grillure », those which are not quite ripe, and the rot that is finally much more important than it appeared first.
The degrees are satisfactory, between 12°1 and 12°7, and acidities are much better than expected.
Yields vary according to the wines between 20 hl/ha and 27hl/ha.
In summary, we have gone through both a difficult year and harvest, but the Domaine was able to seize the « few » opportunities offered by outstanding weather conditions and, even if it is too early to give a definitive description of the vintage, we are rather optimistic. The devatting has just begun : the colours are beautiful, fragrances enchanting, and there seems to be a lot of « fruit ».
With 1998, the production of great wines would depend on the yield controls, the choice of the precise date for picking and finally the quality of selection.
Vintage 1998
1998 VINTAGE in Burgundy
The 1998 vintage was born under good auspices and has real potential. In spite of the occasional capricious weather conditions, the harvest has given us wines full of promise ? some fruity and seductive, others meaty and more structured.
After brief cold spells in January and February, the vines enjoyed temperatures above the seasonal average in March. This mild weather was interrupted by cold and rainy conditions in early spring. More clement weather returned in May and got growth off to a good start though, later, a slight drop in temperature slowed down the end of the flowering period. Odium broke out but did only local damage and overall the health of the vines remained satisfactory. The summer was on the whole hot and dry. Some limited hail damage occurred. Whilst scorching temperatures in August led to rapid colouring-up (vérasion) and a promising start to maturation. Rain in September was fortunately concentrated at the beginning and end of the month. By and large, harvesting took place in excellent conditions under sunny skies.
As always, the quest for optimum maturity was the key factor in deciding when harvesting should begin. The composition of the grapes was good nut the presence of botrytis gave rise in many cases to a need for sorting ? more or less rigorously according to situation. On the whole, average sugar content and acidity levels were both satisfactory. The ?ban de vendanges? was lifted the 10th of September confirming a somewhat precocious year.
At Domaine Latour, we began the harvest on Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd and selected only those vineyards with more than 12° of natural sugar content. The grapes maturity appeared to depend on the age of the vines, the older vines with stronger roots were the most resistant to the drought and therefore in the best condition.
During the period of good weather, the grape juice was re-concentrated. Over 80 percent of our crop was brought in between Monday 21st and Saturday 26th in perfect harvesting conditions. Such was the urgency to harvest before the rains returned, that all available personnel at Maison Latour were mobilised in addition to the harvesters, for the first time in twenty years.
We were able to finish harvesting on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd October, just before the weather pattern changed again. The careful selection of fruit in the vineyards and on selection tables at our winery ensured that only the very best fruit in the best possible condition went into the vat.
The red grapes that were harvested before the rains came, have good concentration and especially good colour. They have a firm tannic structure that will enable the wines to age gracefully, and the acidity is balanced, but not as high as in 1996. All of the fermentation?s this year were rapid which has helped to soften the wines, and retain that brilliant Pinot Noir colour.
The white 1998s from Domaine Latour are great. Our Corton Charlemagne was picked before the rains came, under fantastic conditions, with sugar levels of between 12.5° and 12.8°. It will surely be a great wine that will benefit from some cellaring. A small crop was harvested from Chevaliers Montrachet Les Demoiselles due to damage caused by the late April frosts, these grapes were of great quality and in a perfect state of physiological maturity.
To sum up the 1998 vintage; the white wines are expressive and pleasing, notable for their elegance and agreeable acidity. For the reds the colour is good and they have a balanced structure and well developed fruit underpinned by harmonious tannins, which bode well for their future.
