2020 Henri Boillot Echezeaux

Community Tasting Note

Likes this wine:

97 Points

Friday, August 4, 2023 - Hanging out on a Friday night (Richmond district): The nose initially showed earthy, dark fruits like prunes and plums, wet damp earth, and even some mushrooms. With time, fruits move away from prunes and into darker fruits and brooding dark floral notes emerge.

Just like the nose, the palate needed some time to turn into something much tastier. Initial notes of fresh cranberries, gentle forest floor with damp earth, and gently spiced oak. Great freshness already. Cranberries fade within a couple of hours and dark fruits and berries surface, a deep stream of earth with a spiced excitement, mixed with minerals that are also somehow spiced, very interesting. Fruits turn black with time while keeping a nice bitter core of black minerals with a nice sheen, imagine something like obsidian and if it were bitter. Nice finish of steeped tea and tree bark on the finish.

It's like the wine learned how to open up its aromas through controlled breathing, breathing a sigh of relief and releasing everything it had. The same happened on the palate as it develops into something much more serious with some time. I'm not sure how common are the candies with a thin neutral tasting film that's wrapped around it, but it's usually messing with the actual flavors of the candy itself until it completely melts away. That's exactly what happened here with the flavors. Drink now with an hour or two of decanting, and enjoy. 96-97+

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4 comments have been posted

  • Comment posted by KillerJones:

    8/6/2023 5:52:00 PM - Great review! I have always thought wines are either breathing in or out - and show different characteristics for each.

    Funny...I was just in Tokyo - and they have candies like you describe - with a neutral wrap. I totally get what you are saying.

    Keep up the great writing!

  • Comment posted by WineBurrowingWombat:

    8/6/2023 7:10:00 PM - Thanks Killer!

    I hope you ate GOOD when you were over there.

  • Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:

    8/9/2023 10:49:00 PM - Ooohhh I see you are venturing to the dark side! Welcome abaord. These of course need time but the 2020 vintage is already so good now. Cheers!

  • Comment posted by WineBurrowingWombat:

    8/10/2023 7:25:00 AM - Is it the dark side though, if it's this good?..

    Oh, I see.

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