Échezeaux () is an ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

'' (AOC) and

Grand Cru Cru is a wine term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French word which is traditionally translated as "growth", as is the past participle of the verb "croître" (to grow); it literally means 'grown'. The ...

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

for

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

in the

Côte de Nuits The Côte de Nuits () is a French wine region located in the northern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is at the heart of the Burgundy wine region. It extends from Dijon to just south of Nuits-Saint-Georges, which gives its name to ...

subregion of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

, with

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

as the main grape variety. Échezeaux is located within the commune of

Flagey-Echézeaux Flagey-Echézeaux () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population Wine Flagey-Echézeaux is home to two Grand Cru vineyards, Échezeaux and Grands Échezeaux. Most of the other vineyards of the commune are par ...

,K. MacNeil ''The Wine Bible'' pg 191-195 Workman Publishing 2001 on a strip of land between the territory of the communes

Vosne-Romanée Vosne-Romanée () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Wine It produces the region's most celebrated wines, all made entirely from the Pinot noir grape: "There can be little ...

, Vougeot and

Chambolle-Musigny Chambolle-Musigny () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or ''département'' in eastern France. It is one of the wine villages situated on the Côte-d'Or escarpment, and is one of the twelve Côte d'Or communes of France which added or adopted the name ...

. Échezeaux borders on the

Clos de Vougeot Clos de Vougeot, also known as Clos Vougeot, is a wall-enclosed vineyard, a ''clos'', in the Burgundy wine region, and an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) for red wine from this vineyard. It was named for the River Vouge, which is in ...

and its wall as well as Grands Échezeaux in the east, on Chambolle-Musigny vineyards in the north, some Vosne-Romanée vineyards in the west and on the Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru vineyard Les Suchots in the south. The AOC was created in 1937.

Wine style

Échezeaux, which in the early 2000s had 80 vineyard owners, has a reputation for being somewhat variable in quality, which is a reputation it shares with its likewise much sub-divided neighbour Clos de Vougeot. Échezeaux from some producers has a much higher reputation than others, and prices can therefore vary. The most well-known vineyard owner in Échezeaux is

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, often abbreviated to DRC, is an estate in Burgundy, France that produces white and red wine. It is widely considered among the world's greatest wine producers, and DRC bottles are among the world's most expensive. I ...

Production

In 2008, of vineyard surface was in production within the AOC, and 1,240 hectoliters of wine were produced, corresponding to some 165,000 bottles.

AOC regulations

The main grape variety for Échezeaux is Pinot noir. The AOC regulations also allow up to 15 per cent total of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces white ...

and

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

as accessory grapes, but this is practically never used for any Burgundy Grand Cru vineyard. The allowed base yield is 35 hectoliter per hectare, a minimum planting density of 9,000 vines per hectare and a minimum grape maturity of 11.5 per cent

potential alcohol Must weight is a measure of the amount of sugar in grape juice (must) and, hence, indicates the amount of alcohol that could be produced if it is all fermented to alcohol, rather than left as residual sugar.AOC regulations, last updated 2009
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echezeaux Burgundy (historical region) AOCs

Wine style

Production

AOC regulations

See also

References