Echezeaux is a grand cru vineyard covering the slopes above the Clos de Vougeot vineyard in Burgundy's Cote de Nuits. Like its famous neighbor, it is considerably larger than most grand cru vineyards, covering nearly 40 hectares (100 acres) of land. Echezeaux wines, made exclusively from Pinot Noir, are on the full-bodied end of the Burgundy spectrum, showing red fruit as well as spice and undergrowth characters.
The climat is located within the village of Flagey-Echezeaux, just north of the famous vineyards of Vosne-Romanée. It covers land stretching from the edge of Clos de Vougeot and Grands-Echezeaux up to where the Côte d'Or's vineyards give way to forest. The Musigny vineyard is just to the north, and a line of premier cru vineyards to the south separates Echezeaux from the Richebourg and Romanée-Saint-Vivant vineyards.
There are 11 different lieux-dits in Echezeaux, each broken up into many plots, and in total owned by around 80 individuals from various local families. The Echezeaux du Dessus, Les Poulailleres and En Orveaux lieux-dits on the upper mid-slope are generally recognized as being the climat's best patches, because of their stonier, thinner soils and good drainage. Echezeaux's lower areas tend to have heavier clay soils and poor drainage – a result of both this soil make-up and their proximity to the valley basin below. The northeastern quarter of the site is occupied by the independently recognized Grands-Echezeaux climat – acknowledged as being superior to the other Echezeaux wines and thus more deserving of its separate grand cru appellation status.
Since 1937, when the Echezeaux Grand Cru appellation was created, some prominent voices in the wine trade have suggested that perhaps only parts of Echezeaux are truly of grand cru quality. As in Clos de Vougeot, the climat's fragmented nature has exacerbated this variation in terroir. When producers held larger plots in the vineyard, they were able to use grapes from across the site to make a balanced wine.
Today, Echezeaux's largest land owner is Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, with nearly 5ha (12 acres) of vines. Domaine Mongeard-Mugneret and Emmanuel Rouget also own sizeable plots in the vineyard.
