The sort of fabulous Pinot Noir that quickens a wine lover's pulse. Pretty amazing: Dark in color, it starts out reserved then hits high gear with loads of lush, ripe, sweet red- and blackberry flavor. Fine tannins and a long finish. My guess is grand cru Burgundy.--Pinot Noir Challenge. Drink now through 2020. – PM

Transparent ruby. Richly flattering fruit with a hint of coffee. Clean, smudgy, flattering, appealing – lots of ripeness even if not great delineation on the nose. Floral, fragrant. Sweet start, definitely robust rather than subtle. Long and very rich. This wine was the first that forced me to think of what to serve with it and I felt it could stand up to quite an array of foods. I found myself suddenly thinking of veal in a cream sauce. Aubert remarked on this lively wine’s 'gaiety'. It’s certainly extraordinarily frank as well as being sweet, rich and almost smudgy. Perhaps the most flattering of these eight wines. Hint of cough drops. 18.5/20

The 1990 DRC Echézeaux is still quite tightly-knit, which I take as a very good sign for its ultimate level of quality. The bouquet offer sup a deep and pure mélange of raspberries, cherries, a bit of blood orange, duck, beetroot, exotic spice tones, a touch of bonfire, sous bois and a bit of fresh nutmeg in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish, tangy and showing signs of the autumnal elements to come, with a good core, melting tannins, great focus and grip and a long, complex finish. This wine is already a great pleasure to drink today, but I have the distinct impression that it is still climbing and will be even better with further bottle age.

The 1990 Echezeaux continues to confirm that the DRC has been successful in turning out a richer more structured wine in vintages since 1988. The deep color (it may be the darkest Echezeaux I have seen) is followed by a bouquet with well-developed aromas of spices plums black-raspberries and sweet new oak. In the mouth the wine exhibits admirable toastiness rich medium to full body moderate tannins low acidity and an impressive finish. Anticipated maturity: 1995-2010.

Intense, ripe and slightly roasted black fruit nose with developing complexity that leads to rich, full-bodied, rounded, sweet flavors underpinned by big tannins and the wine finishes with grand cru quality length. This is quite big and certainly dramatic but for all its richness and power, it's not an elegant wine per se. All of that said, it's still a relatively youthful wine and could be drunk now with pleasure or held for a few more years to fully round out the finish. Multiple and consistent notes.