Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru, Joseph Drouhin is a peerless Burgundy, packed with cherries, dark chocolate and cocoa bean. It becomes increasingly fragrant with truffle, undergrowth and leather with further age.
Located above Clos Vougeot, this tiny vineyard (1.175 acre) is on a moderate incline, facing due east. The soil is chalk from the Bajocian layer, ideally suited for Pinot Noir. Average age of the vines 22 years and pruned via Guyot. Yields are low. Biological cultivation has been used since 1990 and biodynamic cultivation a few years later. Propagation of new vine stocks from a number of selected vines (selection massale) is done at the Drouhin nursery and also clones of recognized quality. Soil maintenance is done by the compost of manure and white wood, sometimes guano (seabird manure used as fertilizer). Soil is ploughed either by tractor or by horse to manage spreading of weeds. Only authorized products for biological cultivation are used such as infusions and macerations of plant materials, sulfur and copper, powdered rock. Natural predators are not eliminated. Plantation density is just 10,000 to 12,500 stocks/ha in order to extract all possible nuances from the terroir and limit the production of each vine stock.
The name comes from 'cheza' (plural 'chezeaux') meaning a hamlet. The monks of Citeaux, who already owned Clos Vougeot, coveted the Musigny vineyard but were never able to acquire it. They put all their hopes instead on Grands-Echezaux so as to become the rival of the prestigious Musigny.
