Echézeaux, Domaine Georges Noellat 2018

Cheurlin produced just one and a half barrels of the 2018 Echézeaux Grand Cru, and it is showing very well, unwinding to reveal aromas of sweet berry and cherry fruit mingled with exotic spices, loamy soil, dark chocolate and spices. Full-bodied, layered and velvety, with terrific concentration and a textural, multidimensional profile, it's built around succulent acids and ripe tannins. As usual, this derives from a tiny parcel in Les Cruots that was planted before 1915.

This too is restrained to the point of being all but mute as the nose only grudgingly divulges its aromas of softly spicy and floral purple fruit. The lush and generously proportioned flavors possess very good volume and power as well as mouthcoating texture where the dry extract does a good job of buffering the firm tannins shaping the muscular, serious and youthfully austere finish. Patience essential.