2007 Domaine De La Romanee Conti Echezeaux Grand Cru

Note: approximately 45 year old vines from 2 different climats, 90% of which is in Les Poulaillères and the other 10% is in Clos St. Denis; there was a lot of replanting done here in the decades of the sixties and seventies

(90 Points) obvious earth notes that transfer over to the detailed, balanced and energetic flavors that possess excellent transparency on the vibrant and mouth coating finish. There is a lingering inner mouth perfume here that makes this quite seductive. Not surprisingly, this changed rather dramatically in the hour that I had to evaluate the '07s and the seemingly lighter weight flavors put on noticeable flesh though the nose slowly closed in on itself. Tasted: Jan 30, 2010 Drink: 2017+

Producer note: Co-director Aubert de Villaine yet again described 2007 as " a vintage of the vignerons, meaning that to be successful you had to have done excellent vineyard work as you could not have had high quality fruit without it. Bud break was extremely early thanks to an extremely warm April that also caused a significant advance in leaf development. Indeed it was so warm and the vegetation so advanced that we initially thought that we might have another 2003 on our hands. The extended flowering was also extremely early as it began around the 20th of May but then required three weeks to complete, which of course makes the final vineyard maturities highly variable and in some cases, even among the individual bunches. This predicted variability did indeed occur because even at véraison there was a difference of up to one week. The variability wasn't just limited to ripeness levels either as the summer weather was consistently inconsistent with a day or warmth followed by rain followed by cool weather and this pattern allowed powdery mildew, gray rot and botrytis to obtain footholds. The cool and damp weather slowed the maturation process and while we originally thought that we might harvest around the 20th of August, it was delayed until the first of September, which made for approximately 115 days after the flowering rather than the more usual 100. The warm and dry weather accompanied by the north wind that arrived in late August caused a rapid climb in maturities and sugars shot up like a rocket while the cool winds preserved the acidities. We picked slowly and deliberately over a ten day period under ideal conditions and finished on the 11th, except for the Montrachet which was picked on the 17th. We knew we would have to sort carefully and the work was exacting but what we kept was of excellent quality and quite ripe. The fermentations occurred with no difficulties using between 70 to 80% of the stems." M. de Villaine usually is willing to opine as to what other vintages a young one might resemble but in the case of the '07s, he demurred, noting that "the wines have changed so much from month to month during the élevage that it's really difficult to pin them down. There was a dramatic change after the malos were completed as the wines picked up color, flesh and power and I'm honestly not sure where they will finish stylistically speaking. It does appear that they will be classically structured wines of finesse and purity and will have crystal clear vineyard differences but other than that, it is more prudent to watch and wait at this stage of their development." Burghound Issue 37