See what Clive Coates had to say about this historic Grand Cru.
“Grands-Echézeaux is smaller (than Echézeaux), at just over 9 hectares. If you look upslope from the main road, it is if someone has taken a bite out of the south-western corner of Clos de Vougeot. This is Grands-Echézeaux. Once again the main proprietor is the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. The best of the 20 other owners are the Baron Thénard, whose wine is usually sold to Remoissenet Père et Fils, Engel (now Eugenie), Drouhin, Gros Frère et Soeur, Lamarche, Clos Frantin (Bichot) and Robert Sirugue.” - Clive Coates, Master of Wine
We recently came across this wine in the cellar of private-collectors-turned-importers. Consisting mostly of California doctors, the group began visiting Burgundy in the 60’s and 70’s and had perfectly stored gems from some of Burgundy’s top sites. They purchased and meticulously cellared their wines in a dark and cold 50ºF warehouse along the San Francisco Bay. I tasted every wine in their library, and each showed exceptionally well. A rare opportunity, we purchased all their wines at their original release price. Since prices in Burgundy have skyrocketed in the past decade, I’m delighted to offer you this 2006 Domaine Thenard Grands-Echézeaux Grand Cru at a price that is less than its potential wholesale price in the current market. This wine is pristine, mature, and as close to the Domaine’s own cellar condition as you’re going to get.
The Thenard family boasts a line of dedicated Burgundian vignerons that reach back to 1760. Baron Paul Thenard founded the current estate in the village of Givry back in 1842 and expanded it to include one of the finest stretches of the famed Le Montrachet in the 1870’s, which really put the family on the map. The twentieth century brought this celebrated Grand Cru holding of Grands-Echézeaux, among others, into the fold, which thrust the family Domaine into the upper echelon of Burgundian estates. A favorite of Charles de Gaulle as well as the papacy, the Domaine’s export wines were often bottled by the négociant Maison Roland Remoissenet for the American market until 2005 when the family started bottling its wine under its own Domaine Thenard label. Baron Jean-Baptiste Bordeaux-Montrieux has been at the helm of winemaking since the early 80’s and continues to craft wines in the traditional style the family is known for in their charming 18th-century cellar.
The Grand Cru vineyard of Grands-Echézeaux is just over 9 hectares and rests within the Côte de Nuits village of Flagey-Echézeaux in the southwestern corner of Clos de Vougeot. Just over twenty vignerons own parcels in this hallowed ground, including Domaine de la Romanée-Conti whose offers demand over a thousand dollars a bottle. Clives Coates has called this special vineyard, “a seriously first division Grand Cru,” and remarks that Domaine Thenard has, “long been one of the most important landowners in the Côte d’Or, Domaine Thenard is becoming a producer on par with the great estates of Burgundy.” Since reaching the American market with the Domaine Thenard label, the wines have only increased in quality.
The 2006 Grands-Echézeaux exhibits a near opaque, dark ruby core with light garnet and orange on the rim, flaunting its decade of age. The dense and concentrated nose offers brooding aromas of salted dried black cherry and wild raspberry liqueur over forest floor, wet bark, crushed stones, exotic spices and that all-encompassing Burgundian perfume that endears us to the region’s greatest examples. The palate is near full-bodied, rich and dense with a broad weight and texture on the palate; flavors confirm the nose with additional notes of bilberry and wet rose petals. This wine is simply enchanting right now, but also has a long life ahead of it and should peak between 2020 and 2030. No need to decant, this is a wine to pull the cork two hours prior in your cellar too slowly open up and serve alongside a serious main course. This wine could easily stand up to steak, lamb or roast chicken, but my personal favorite with rich, red Burgundy is a classic duck confit with roasted potatoes. For a pairing that marries this concentrated, deep beauty with the ideal amount of fat and savory heaven, try the
James Beard Foundation’s recipe.
