2015 Domaine Coquard-Loison-Fleurot Echezeaux Grand Cru

Neal Martin 94: The 2015 Echézeaux Grand Cru offers attractive, pure black cherry and raspberry notes that have been given a good lick of oak, but the wood feels simpatico to the fruit tucked in behind. The plush, flamboyant palate is medium-bodied with silky-smooth tannins. There is satisfying delineation and focus on the velvety-smooth finish, which lingers nicely in the mouth. Excellent. Tasted blind at the annual Burgfest tasting.

William Kelley 93: Like the Clos de la Roche, the 2015 Echézeaux Grand Cru is ripe and dramatic, bursting with aromas of dark fruits, orange rind and minty new oak. Lavishly rich and full-bodied, it's layered, concentrated and multidimensional, clamping down on the firm, compact and vanillin-inflected finish. 2020 - 2035

Although owned for many generations by the same family, Domaine Coquard-Loison-Fleurot is a relative newcomer to the international wine market. After years in the business of grape growing the family only recently started to bottle their own wine. Now, with the younger generation at the helm and having established a strong domestic following, Commercial Director Claire Fleurot has widened the lens of the business to include markets further afield.

The 9-hectare portfolio of Domaine Coquard-Loison-Fleurot, or ‘CLF’ as those in the know refer to it, includes a clutch of grand cru sites such as Charmes-Chambertin, Clos de la Roche, Clos-St-Denis, Clos de Vougeot, Échezeaux and Grands Échezeaux. This is further complemented by the premier cru Vosne Romanée site of Les Beaumonts, the 2015 vintage of which was described by Jancis Robinson MW as “Juicy and smooth and utterly flattering and gorgeous.” To complete the portfolio is a selection of village plots in Gevrey Chambertin, Morey-St-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanée.

Winemaker Thomas Colladot, who shares a close friendship and common approach to winemaking with Sébastien Cathiard of Domain Sylvain Cathiard, joined CLF in 2010. Colladot’s winemaking skills have not gone unnoticed, obviously catching the attention of Wine Advocate’s Burgundy expert Neal Martin when he writes, “Domaine Coquard-Loison-Fleurot - there is clearly a skilled winemaker at work here.”