Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
About Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (aka DRC) is an iconic producer – and has maintained this position for many decades. DRC has a fascinating and lengthy history spanning the ownership of its namesake vineyard by the Bourbon Prince of Conti, through the French Revolution to the current owner of the de Villaine and Leroy/Roch families. Managing 25 hectares of exclusively Grand Cru vineyards, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is the sole Burgundian estate to bottle nothing other than the pinnacle of the region’s classification system.
Chief amongst all Burgundy producers to claim holdings in most of the magical terroir in Vosne-Romanée, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is famously hailed as the King of Vosne-Romanée. Possessing only the best vineyard in the region, two of their most sought after red wines being Romanée-Conti and La Tâche, both of which are monopole holdings and frequently amongst the best offerings in Burgundy.
Apart from Romanée-Conti and La Tâche, DRC also produces four other Grand Cru wines from Vosne-Romanée at ultra-limited quantity each year: Romanée St-Vivant Grand Cru (approx. 1,500 cases/year), Richebourg Grand Cru (approx. 1,000 cases/year), Échezeaux Grand Cru (approx. 1,340 cases/year) and Grand Échezeaux Grand Cru (approx. 1,150 cases/year).
The style of the DRC wines is rich, intense, silky, transparent and quite light on the aromatic palate with more red than dark nuances. The use of whole clusters gives a very rich aromatic profile, and a very high complexity as the wine ages. All the wines are very reflective of the terroir, and the difference in terroir is very clear even when the wines are very young and powerful. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti normally use 100% new oak on the wines.
Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
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Burgundy | 1 | 98 (VN) |
Inc. VAT
£11,868.41 |
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Vinous (98)The 2009 La Tâche Grand Cru is the most ethereal of the three wines in this flight. Whole cluster influence is especially marked here. A whole range of spice, dried flower, mint and savory overtones infuse the 2009 with layers of nuance. Next to the other wines in this flight, La Tâche is ethereal and harder to fully capture with words, an attribute many, if not most, of the world’s greatest wines share. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 98 (VN) |
Inc. VAT
£13,063.61 |
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Vinous (98)The 2016 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked on September 24–25 at 31hL/ha (the highest of the five crus). It has an utterly sublime bouquet of blackberry, briar, crushed limestone, a dash of cracked black pepper and a little oregano. This is extremely complex and displays exquisite focus, to the extent that you could just sit and nose it all day. The palate is beautifully balanced, the spicy red fruit framed by filigreed tannin that belies its backbone. There is a gentle crescendo from start to finish, though being La Tâche it retains complete control. The precision and detail in the final third are deeply impressive. Less fruit-forward than the 2015, and lightly spiced, with an insistent grip. There is a captivating sense of completeness that will ensure longevity through three or four decades. 1,814 cases produced. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in-bottle tasting in London. |
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|
Burgundy | 1 | 98 (VN) |
Inc. VAT
£14,190.41 |
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Vinous (98)The 2019 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked over three days from 16 to 18 of September at 23hL/ha. Like the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, this wine gives you no choice but to sit and contemplate. The bouquet is beautifully-defined, broody and introspective at first, less immediate than the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, then after 10 minutes it becomes highly perfumed with potpourri and rose petals, dark berry fruit, perhaps just a hint of liquorice. The palate is medium-bodied, extraordinarily well-defined and pure. There is a touch more spice compared to recent vintages, a pinch of white pepper lingers on the tongue for a minute after the wine has exited. There is real structure to this La Tâche and my intuition is that this will close for a period during its long arching evolution in bottle. 994 cases produced. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London. |
Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Burgundy | 1 | 98 (VN) |
In Bond
£9,885.00 |
|||||
Vinous (98)The 2009 La Tâche Grand Cru is the most ethereal of the three wines in this flight. Whole cluster influence is especially marked here. A whole range of spice, dried flower, mint and savory overtones infuse the 2009 with layers of nuance. Next to the other wines in this flight, La Tâche is ethereal and harder to fully capture with words, an attribute many, if not most, of the world’s greatest wines share. |
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|
Burgundy | 1 | 98 (VN) |
In Bond
£10,881.00 |
|||||
Vinous (98)The 2016 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked on September 24–25 at 31hL/ha (the highest of the five crus). It has an utterly sublime bouquet of blackberry, briar, crushed limestone, a dash of cracked black pepper and a little oregano. This is extremely complex and displays exquisite focus, to the extent that you could just sit and nose it all day. The palate is beautifully balanced, the spicy red fruit framed by filigreed tannin that belies its backbone. There is a gentle crescendo from start to finish, though being La Tâche it retains complete control. The precision and detail in the final third are deeply impressive. Less fruit-forward than the 2015, and lightly spiced, with an insistent grip. There is a captivating sense of completeness that will ensure longevity through three or four decades. 1,814 cases produced. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in-bottle tasting in London. |
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|
Burgundy | 1 | 98 (VN) |
In Bond
£11,820.00 |
|||||
Vinous (98)The 2019 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked over three days from 16 to 18 of September at 23hL/ha. Like the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, this wine gives you no choice but to sit and contemplate. The bouquet is beautifully-defined, broody and introspective at first, less immediate than the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, then after 10 minutes it becomes highly perfumed with potpourri and rose petals, dark berry fruit, perhaps just a hint of liquorice. The palate is medium-bodied, extraordinarily well-defined and pure. There is a touch more spice compared to recent vintages, a pinch of white pepper lingers on the tongue for a minute after the wine has exited. There is real structure to this La Tâche and my intuition is that this will close for a period during its long arching evolution in bottle. 994 cases produced. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London. |