Terroir insight – DRC Grands-Echezeaux

The Grands-Echezeaux is somehow the slightly overlooked wine in the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti lineup. It is however a magnificent wine in its own right, but is of course somewhat overshadowed by the four top reds – Richebourg, Romanee Saint-Vivant, La Tâche and Romanee-Conti.

In this article I will take a closer look at the DRC Grands-Echezeaux, with focus on the location of the plots its produced from.

Climate and location

The Grands-Echezeaux vineyard is located just above Clos des Vougeot, and below the center climates of Echezeaux – Les Poulailleres and Echezeaux du Dessus.

Photo: The DRC Grands-Echezeaux seen from the bottom of the vineyard overlooking Echezeaux – source Google.

The total area of Grands Echezeaux is 9.14 ha, and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti owns 3.53 ha equivalent to almost 40% of the vineyard.

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti have 4 plots located in the center of the vineyard just below Echezeaux du Dessus and Les Poulailleres where DRC produce 90% of its Echezeaux – see map below.

The history of these plot

As many other vineyards in the area Grands-Echezeaux was for decades owned by the abbey of Citeaux, but was sold of during or after the revolution. According to Gert Crum⁵ the Marey family acquired Grands-Echezeaux after the revolution.

Lavalle¹ mention Duveaux (Duvault) as one of the owners in 1855 – thus indicating that the predecessors/ancestors of the current DRC owners already had acquired at least some of these plots when Lavalle wrote his book. Marey is not mentioned as a owner by Lavalle, and its therefore likely that they sold of the vineyard in pieces … including the plot to Duvault.

In Danguy & Aubertin² (1892) Duvaux was mentioned again among the six owners on Grands-Echezeaux, and Rodier³ (1920) mentioned de Villaine and Chambon as owners thus confirming the DRC ownership.

References & Sources:

1. Jules Lavalle, Histoire et Statistique de la Vignes et Des Grands Vins de la Côte d’Or (1855)
2. M.R. Danguy et M. Ch. Aubertin, Les Grands Vins de Bourgogne (1892)
3. Camille Rodier, Le Vin de Bourgogne (1920)
4. Allen D. Meadows, The Pearl of the Côte (2010)
5. Gert Crum, Le Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (2012)

Special thanks to Jean-Charles Cuvelier and Nicolas Jacob at Domaine de la Romanee-Conti for the helpful information’s about the DRC holdings.

Tasting Notes for this producer

• Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée Saint-Vivant 2008 June 3, 2023
• Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet 2007 June 3, 2023
• The DRC Richebourg 2010 and a contrasting RSV May 14, 2021
• Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Romanée-Saint-Vivant 2009 – 7 years after October 23, 2019
• Hope for an old Romanée-Conti, and a delightful Dujac 1976 September 27, 2019
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2008 July 6, 2018
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tâche 2011 July 6, 2018
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanée-Conti 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tâche 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanée Saint-Vivant 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Grands Echezeaux 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Corton 2015 July 13, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 1993 January 1, 2017
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2002 April 29, 2016
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Montrachet 2009 April 29, 2016
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2004 April 29, 2016
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tâche 2002 April 29, 2016
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 1993 February 15, 2016
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tâche 1990 January 26, 2016
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2004 December 2, 2014
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tâche 2011 October 10, 2014
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2011 October 1, 2014
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Batard-Montrachet 2007 November 5, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2000 October 24, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Vosne-Romanee 1er cru 2008 October 23, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2002 May 23, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Batard Montrachet 2000 April 11, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2004 April 1, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanee-Conti 2011 March 23, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 2011 March 22, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2011 March 22, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanee-Saint-Vivant 2011 March 22, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2007 March 4, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2001 January 8, 2013
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2002 July 10, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2004 July 9, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 2009 May 21, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 2009 May 20, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanee-Saint-Vivant 2009 May 17, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Grands Echezeaux 2009 May 17, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2009 May 16, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Corton 2009 May 15, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Vosne Romanee 1’er cru 2009 May 15, 2012
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Grands Echezeaux 2002 July 31, 2011
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Romanee-Saint-Vivant 2004 May 5, 2011
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Echezeaux 2002 July 31, 2005
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg 1999 June 15, 2003
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 1959 April 2, 1994
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 1957 April 2, 1994
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 1978 April 2, 1994
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 1985 April 2, 1994
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 1971 April 2, 1994
• Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, La Tache 1990 April 2, 1994