The 2011 Richebourg was picked on 7 and 8 September at 28.36hl/ha. It has a very pure bouquet, a mixture of blackberry, raspberry leaf, freshly tilled meadow and a touch of cold stone. It is not a powerful bouquet, but delineated and very focused. The palate is not dissimilar to the Grands Echezeaux on the entry: linear and poised with crisp brambly red fruit. But it swerves another way mid-through, developing a wonderful candied core of strawberry and Morello and a caressing finish sending ripples of pleasure across the senses. In many ways it is a self-effacing Richebourg with charm and candour, but I Richebourg that I suspect may be deceptively long lived. The Richebourg 2011 is a fair prince rather than a grand king. NM
