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.
-
Inc. VAT£46,176.53
-
Vinous (92)
(90% destemmed): Good deep red. Ethereal aromas of red berries, minerals and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, conveying a light touch and excellent energy to the flavors of red fruits, pepper, herbs and licorice. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and a spicy perfume that leaves the mouth refreshed.Inc. VAT£2,720.00 -
Vinous (92)
(90% destemmed): Good deep red. Ethereal aromas of red berries, minerals and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, conveying a light touch and excellent energy to the flavors of red fruits, pepper, herbs and licorice. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and a spicy perfume that leaves the mouth refreshed.Inc. VAT£5,706.41 -
Vinous (92)
(90% destemmed): Good deep red. Ethereal aromas of red berries, minerals and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, conveying a light touch and excellent energy to the flavors of red fruits, pepper, herbs and licorice. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and a spicy perfume that leaves the mouth refreshed.Inc. VAT£10,273.22 -
Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95)
From Les Poulaillères. I still do not feel that I have fully understood this vintage, but the wine was excellent. The colour demonstrated a depth rarely found in the other examples and there was an impressive weight of fruit on the nose without losing any sense of balance or of plate. This was the most mouth-filling example of Echezeaux in the tasting and clearly now happily entering its window if drinkability. It held up very well in the glass too. Barely short of a 5th star.Inc. VAT£25,938.04 -
Jancis Robinson (18.5+)
Notably deeper colour. More violets and headier than the Échezeaux. Denser. Floral notes and the skein of freshness runs through this but with great charm and class. Notable acidity on the finish and the tannins are just about hidden. Medium weight fruit. Redcurrants poke through on the finish.Inc. VAT£4,790.00 -
Vinous (96)
Our last Burgundy of the night was served blind. It was an explosive, ripe wine packed with an impressively dense core of fruit framed by new oak. It turned out to be the 2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, a wine that is perhaps 15 years away from being ready to drink. Needless to say it was an incredible privilege to catch this wine at this relatively early stage.Inc. VAT£51,853.24 -
Vinous (97+)
The 2013 La Tâche Grand Cru is dazzling. Bright and nuanced, the 2013 sizzles with energy right out of the gate. The 2013 is just starting to open. Ideally, a few more years in the cellar would be helpful, but the 2013 is so inviting at this stage. This late-ripening year produced a La Tâche that bristles with tension.Inc. VAT£38,097.64 -
Burghound (96)
A whiff of post-bottling reduction does little to detract from the strikingly well-layered and ever-so-mildly exotic fruit, white flower and softly wooded nose. The super-rich and full-bodied yet beautifully delineated flavors possess a borderline painful intensity along with a taut muscularity before culminating a focused, tightly wound and powerful finale that really fans out as it sits on the palate. Moreover this markedly dry but not really austere effort is what I describe as sneaky long because just as the finish appears to be dying away it suddenly come back and plays hide and seek with your palate. Like most vintages of the Domaine's Montrachet this is undeniably built-to-age but unlike some of them the 2013 rendition is not likely to drink particularly well before the age of at least 10 and should reward somewhere between 15 and 20.Inc. VAT£8,380.40 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2013 Richebourg Grand Cru was harvested on the afternoon of October 9 and then the following day at just 16.5 hectoliters per hectare, the second lowest after the Echézeaux. It is clearly the elder brother of the 2013 Romanée-Saint-Vivant with intense dark cherry, black plum, tayberry and crushed violet aromas (the latter, perhaps a nod to the Romanée-Saint-Vivant). As with all the domaine's wines this year, it is beautifully defined with beguiling transparency. The palate is medium-bodied, but there is serious weight and presence here. It is struck through with sorbet-like freshness, hints of blood orange tincturing the vibrant red fruit, seguing into a finish with great conviction and confidence, a Richebourg self-aware though not preening about its status. This is a Richebourg to cellar for several years and to enjoy over the next 20 to 25 years (or more). Production is 551 cases. Tasted February 2016.Inc. VAT£3,849.20 -
Burghound (96)
This displays a positively classic nose of soaring Asian spices, ripe plum and a gamut of ripe, pure and lacy red and black fruits with the latter predominating all wrapped together with a seductive kiss of sweetly scented, highly perfumed violets; the nose is, in a word, intoxicating. All of this aromatic intensity leads to remarkably powerful, linear and still taut flavors that show simply unbelievable complexity and stunning length. This will very likely surpass every other RSV from the Domaine in recent memory from a sheer aromatics perspective as the nose really is dazzling. For my taste this has just about arrived at the front end of its peak drinkability though it should hold easily for years to come. Consistent notes save for one bottle that seemed a bit edgy and drying and not at all like what I have described above.Inc. VAT£4,030.40 -
Burghound (96)
This displays a positively classic nose of soaring Asian spices, ripe plum and a gamut of ripe, pure and lacy red and black fruits with the latter predominating all wrapped together with a seductive kiss of sweetly scented, highly perfumed violets; the nose is, in a word, intoxicating. All of this aromatic intensity leads to remarkably powerful, linear and still taut flavors that show simply unbelievable complexity and stunning length. This will very likely surpass every other RSV from the Domaine in recent memory from a sheer aromatics perspective as the nose really is dazzling. For my taste this has just about arrived at the front end of its peak drinkability though it should hold easily for years to come. Consistent notes save for one bottle that seemed a bit edgy and drying and not at all like what I have described above.Inc. VAT£25,938.04 -
Vinous (94-97)
The 2013 Romanée St.-Vivant shows off all the signatures of this site, with soaring aromatics, bright, chiseled red-toned fruit and an understated expression of intensity that is all about finesse. A model of precision and nuance, the RSV is one of my early favorites in the range. Clean, saline notes add to a feeling of refreshing vitality.Inc. VAT£3,395.60
-
In Bond£38,458.00
-
Vinous (92)
(90% destemmed): Good deep red. Ethereal aromas of red berries, minerals and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, conveying a light touch and excellent energy to the flavors of red fruits, pepper, herbs and licorice. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and a spicy perfume that leaves the mouth refreshed.In Bond£2,264.00 -
Vinous (92)
(90% destemmed): Good deep red. Ethereal aromas of red berries, minerals and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, conveying a light touch and excellent energy to the flavors of red fruits, pepper, herbs and licorice. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and a spicy perfume that leaves the mouth refreshed.In Bond£4,750.00 -
Vinous (92)
(90% destemmed): Good deep red. Ethereal aromas of red berries, minerals and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and penetrating, conveying a light touch and excellent energy to the flavors of red fruits, pepper, herbs and licorice. Finishes with firm, ripe tannins and a spicy perfume that leaves the mouth refreshed.In Bond£8,553.00 -
Jasper Morris Inside Burgundy (95)
From Les Poulaillères. I still do not feel that I have fully understood this vintage, but the wine was excellent. The colour demonstrated a depth rarely found in the other examples and there was an impressive weight of fruit on the nose without losing any sense of balance or of plate. This was the most mouth-filling example of Echezeaux in the tasting and clearly now happily entering its window if drinkability. It held up very well in the glass too. Barely short of a 5th star.In Bond£21,599.00 -
Jancis Robinson (18.5+)
Notably deeper colour. More violets and headier than the Échezeaux. Denser. Floral notes and the skein of freshness runs through this but with great charm and class. Notable acidity on the finish and the tannins are just about hidden. Medium weight fruit. Redcurrants poke through on the finish.In Bond£3,989.00 -
Vinous (96)
Our last Burgundy of the night was served blind. It was an explosive, ripe wine packed with an impressively dense core of fruit framed by new oak. It turned out to be the 2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, a wine that is perhaps 15 years away from being ready to drink. Needless to say it was an incredible privilege to catch this wine at this relatively early stage.In Bond£43,195.00 -
Vinous (97+)
The 2013 La Tâche Grand Cru is dazzling. Bright and nuanced, the 2013 sizzles with energy right out of the gate. The 2013 is just starting to open. Ideally, a few more years in the cellar would be helpful, but the 2013 is so inviting at this stage. This late-ripening year produced a La Tâche that bristles with tension.In Bond£31,732.00 -
Burghound (96)
A whiff of post-bottling reduction does little to detract from the strikingly well-layered and ever-so-mildly exotic fruit, white flower and softly wooded nose. The super-rich and full-bodied yet beautifully delineated flavors possess a borderline painful intensity along with a taut muscularity before culminating a focused, tightly wound and powerful finale that really fans out as it sits on the palate. Moreover this markedly dry but not really austere effort is what I describe as sneaky long because just as the finish appears to be dying away it suddenly come back and plays hide and seek with your palate. Like most vintages of the Domaine's Montrachet this is undeniably built-to-age but unlike some of them the 2013 rendition is not likely to drink particularly well before the age of at least 10 and should reward somewhere between 15 and 20.In Bond£6,981.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2013 Richebourg Grand Cru was harvested on the afternoon of October 9 and then the following day at just 16.5 hectoliters per hectare, the second lowest after the Echézeaux. It is clearly the elder brother of the 2013 Romanée-Saint-Vivant with intense dark cherry, black plum, tayberry and crushed violet aromas (the latter, perhaps a nod to the Romanée-Saint-Vivant). As with all the domaine's wines this year, it is beautifully defined with beguiling transparency. The palate is medium-bodied, but there is serious weight and presence here. It is struck through with sorbet-like freshness, hints of blood orange tincturing the vibrant red fruit, seguing into a finish with great conviction and confidence, a Richebourg self-aware though not preening about its status. This is a Richebourg to cellar for several years and to enjoy over the next 20 to 25 years (or more). Production is 551 cases. Tasted February 2016.In Bond£3,205.00 -
Burghound (96)
This displays a positively classic nose of soaring Asian spices, ripe plum and a gamut of ripe, pure and lacy red and black fruits with the latter predominating all wrapped together with a seductive kiss of sweetly scented, highly perfumed violets; the nose is, in a word, intoxicating. All of this aromatic intensity leads to remarkably powerful, linear and still taut flavors that show simply unbelievable complexity and stunning length. This will very likely surpass every other RSV from the Domaine in recent memory from a sheer aromatics perspective as the nose really is dazzling. For my taste this has just about arrived at the front end of its peak drinkability though it should hold easily for years to come. Consistent notes save for one bottle that seemed a bit edgy and drying and not at all like what I have described above.In Bond£3,356.00 -
Burghound (96)
This displays a positively classic nose of soaring Asian spices, ripe plum and a gamut of ripe, pure and lacy red and black fruits with the latter predominating all wrapped together with a seductive kiss of sweetly scented, highly perfumed violets; the nose is, in a word, intoxicating. All of this aromatic intensity leads to remarkably powerful, linear and still taut flavors that show simply unbelievable complexity and stunning length. This will very likely surpass every other RSV from the Domaine in recent memory from a sheer aromatics perspective as the nose really is dazzling. For my taste this has just about arrived at the front end of its peak drinkability though it should hold easily for years to come. Consistent notes save for one bottle that seemed a bit edgy and drying and not at all like what I have described above.In Bond£21,599.00 -
Vinous (94-97)
The 2013 Romanée St.-Vivant shows off all the signatures of this site, with soaring aromatics, bright, chiseled red-toned fruit and an understated expression of intensity that is all about finesse. A model of precision and nuance, the RSV is one of my early favorites in the range. Clean, saline notes add to a feeling of refreshing vitality.In Bond£2,827.00