Burgundy Producer Highlight - Rouget

Emmanuel Rouget is considered to be one of the greatest winemakers in Burgundy, due in large part to the mentorship he received from his uncle, fabled winemaker Henri Jayer.  

The GRW team recently enjoyed a 1999 and 2001 Echezeaux, both of which were absolutely phenomenal and a true joy to experience. If you needed more of a reason to snag some Rouget - We are the lowest price in the world on every single bottle. These wines are not to be missed!

1988 Echezeaux -

Intense and penetrating nose of spices and high-toned pinot fruit with remarkably youthful, rich flavors that completely buffer the still substantial tannins. The extract is sweet and seamless and renders the tannins almost invisible. This is extremely impressive Echézeaux. - BH94

1996 Echezeaux

Now at 20 years of age, the 1996 Echezeaux Grand Cru from Emmanuel Rouget is vindicating the plaudits that praised this wine on release. It is just a great Pinot Noir. Deep in hue, it is surprisingly backward and youthful on the nose, tightly wound with black fruit, cranberry and violets. Echézeaux-cum-Margaux perhaps! The palate is medium-bodied and very well balanced, quite sturdy in backbone as is common with many 1996s, stocky like Emmanuel with an almost sorbet-fresh, vivacious finish that beckons you back for another sip. It would not surprise me if at 30 years of age it warrants an even higher score. This is superb. - RP94

2000 Echezeaux

A gorgeously scented and wonderfully complex nose of black fruit, spice and warm earth aromas introduce forward, complex, intense and seductive medium-bodied flavors that display excellent power, all wrapped in a sappy and largely, if not completely, resolved finish of excellent length. This is lovely juice that is could either be approached now with pleasure or held for a few more years in the cellar first as it has only just arrived at the front edge of its drinkability. Tasted several times with consistent notes.  - BH92 

 2005 Cros Parantoux 

Deep ruby. The dazzling nose is an exercise in elegance, purity and transparency with ripe yet cool and reserved spicy black fruit, earth and subtle mineral notes that lead to more minerality on the precise, sweet, vibrant and harmonious flavors that are sleekly muscled on the powerful, long and classy finish. This is very "Cros" in style as it remains almost aloof in the fashion of a smaller-scaled Richebourg. A great wine in the making that can be drunk now with pleasure as all of impressive mid-palate fat renders it approachable though it's clearly on the way up and many years away from its peak. Tasted twice from bottle with consistent impressions. - BH95

2018 Cros Parantoux

The 2018 Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cros Parantoux exhibits aromas of raspberries, red cherries, orange rind, smoked duck and spices. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, amply endowed with powdery structuring tannins and underpinned by succulent acids. The finish is long and penetrating. Harvested on September 10, the Cros Parantoux attained fully 14.4% alcohol this year. The 2018 vintage set a new but short-lived record at Domaine Emmanuel Rouget, in that the Cros Parantoux—a later-ripening site—checked in at fully 14.4% alcohol, a figure soon surpassed, only a year later, by the even headier 2019 vintage. Rouget picked quite late this year, waiting for full phenolic maturity, and the wines have turned out well: richer and more textural than the 2017s but hiding their alcohol. No doubt, long élevage in the family's cool, humid cellars in Flagey-Echézeaux helps with integration, too. There's just as much fruit as in 2017 but more carnal nuance, and parallels with the 1990 vintage might not be far-fetched, even if the 2018 weather was somewhat more extreme. I wrote last that the house style at this address is fleshy, even dramatic, and that for the better part of the last decade, it has arguably been more consistently realized than in any other era of the domaine's history, and this successful 2018 portfolio gives me no grounds to modify that favorable pronouncement. - RP95-97

2019 Cros Parantoux -

100% new wood. Intense purple without the black. The nose is all in the fruit, not quite so intense. The wood adds a gloss without detracting, this is all about the fruit which has a mind boggling intensity and can carry the degree easily, stretches out much further behind. Better acidity too. This is very complete and absolutely marvellous. It has unquestionably held on to its balance. Thanks to what Emmanuel Rouget calls a salivating acidity. - JM98