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Romanée Conti DRC 1985
OWC: 75
Rating: 100 point (RP)
Maturity: 1990-2005
Tasting Notes (Burgundy Book # B2 Jan 1990)
The Romanee-Conti is utterly mind blowing. The heady, intoxicating bouquet delivered penetrating and sublime aromas that were even more intense than those from the La Tache. On the palate, there is a veritable smorgasbord of earthly and heavenly delights. Needless to say, it is very rich, very opulent, and very concentrated. Red burgundy and red wine do not get any better than this. My guess is that it will peak between 1990 and 2005, as it is a bit more forward than either the La Tache or Richebourg.
This fabled estate has had a brilliant track record since 1978. Lalou Bize-Leroy and Aubert de Villaine seem to have everything tightly within their grasps, so it is unlikely that some of the lapses in quality control that occurred previously will resurface. I am sure they still cannot understand why their estate is so frequently singled out for malicious attacks, but no one should have any trouble appreciating the domaine's 1985s, which are their best wines in decades, even surpassing their sensational 1978s. The problem is coming up with the cash to finance them. The wines, aged in 100% new oak, are never filtered.
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Romanée Conti DRC 1985
Magnum
Rating: 100 point (RP)
Maturity: 1990-2005
Tasting Notes (Burgundy Book # B2 Jan 1990)
The Romanee-Conti is utterly mind blowing. The heady, intoxicating bouquet delivered penetrating and sublime aromas that were even more intense than those from the La Tache. On the palate, there is a veritable smorgasbord of earthly and heavenly delights. Needless to say, it is very rich, very opulent, and very concentrated. Red burgundy and red wine do not get any better than this. My guess is that it will peak between 1990 and 2005, as it is a bit more forward than either the La Tache or Richebourg.
This fabled estate has had a brilliant track record since 1978. Lalou Bize-Leroy and Aubert de Villaine seem to have everything tightly within their grasps, so it is unlikely that some of the lapses in quality control that occurred previously will resurface. I am sure they still cannot understand why their estate is so frequently singled out for malicious attacks, but no one should have any trouble appreciating the domaine's 1985s, which are their best wines in decades, even surpassing their sensational 1978s. The problem is coming up with the cash to finance them. The wines, aged in 100% new oak, are never filtered.
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Romanée Conti DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 99-100 point (RP)
Tasting Notes (Wine Advocate # 170 April 2007)
There are more startling complexities in the 2005 Romanee-Conti than in any other wine here today, perhaps in the vintage. A stunning, high-toned and utterly unique perfume of pink grapefruit, blood orange, tangerine rind, vivid rose petal, musk, cinnamon, sage, and cassis seduces the olfactors in kaleidoscopic rotation. I hesitate to court sacrilege or ridicule with Germanic allusions but it is impossible not to imagine a great Pinot scented with Gewurztraminer and Scheurebe. On the palate, a pure, clean meatiness emerges, like butchering a meadow-fed lamb, bitter-sweet flowers flying forth in an inner-mouth profusion. Soy and black truffle lend a dark, savory note to the proceedings, leading the long finishing procession over a path strewn with rose petals. Fear not: despite its silken texture, there are abundant tannins woven into this amazing tapestry as well, and I am sure those lucky enough to own some can retain it as collateral, then leave it to their children, safe in the knowledge it has not decayed. Reverential drinking after a dozen or more years would, however, be my preference.
Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.
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La Tache DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 98-99 point (RP)
Tasting Notes (Wine Advocate # 170 April 2007)
The 2005 La Tache epitomizes the unique mysteries of Pinot (not to mention the character of a great site), with its aromas of game, musk, iris, star anise, vanilla, allspice, and naturally also an abundance of sweet, ripe, implosively tiny-berried fruit. Imagine a black Riesling. On the palate, a vivid freshness of fruit, pungency of spice and flowers, and melting away of what in point of analytical fact are abundant tannins, all engender an almost white wine dynamic of fruit-mineral call-and-response and clear, incisive penetration of flavors to every recess of the mouth. This is a T.R. sort of wine – you just don’t feel the stick.
Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.
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Richebourg DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 94-95 point (RP)
Tasting Notes (Wine Advocate # 170 April 2007)
The 2005 Richebourg suggests lightly cooked cherry, lilies, and vanilla-chocolate pot de creme, coming onto the palate with a gentle wave of creamy fruit, almost shockingly open-knit and youthfully generous. Low-toned richness of salted beef broth and a hint of wet stone add hints of gravitas, but despite ample (refined) tannins, there is nothing to restrain a veritable gushing of ripe, juicy, sweet finishing fruit. This might close up for a time, but these early indications suggest one ought to revisit it in 3-5 years and expect it to offer much earlier enjoyment than the Grands-Echezeaux or Romanee-St.-Vivant.
Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.
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St Vivant DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 96-97 point (RP)
Tasting Notes (Wine Advocate # 170 April 2007)
Just as this year’s Echezeaux challenges the quality of the Grands-Echezeaux, another surprise of the vintage is a spectacular showing for the 2005 Romanee-St.-Vivant. A startlingly dark, mouth-watering amalgam of purple plum paste, blackberry preserves, bitter chocolate, toasted walnut, soy, and raw beef intrigues the nose. On the palate, this cleaves to the dark side, with viscous, mouth-coating concentration of lightly-cooked black fruits, charred meat, mysterious forest floor complexity, and bitter-sweet florality, but simultaneously delivers a vibratory finish like that of the energetic Grands-Echezeaux. With its palpable extract, profound personality, and refined but abundant tannins, this is surely wine to set aside for at least a decade.
Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.
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Grands Echezeaux DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 95-96 point (RP)
Tasting Notes (Wine Advocate # 170 April 2007)
The 2005 Grands-Echezeaux displays an utterly different, less charming personality than its “little” sibling. Fresh black raspberry and black cherry hover between sorbet-like and faintly-caramelized manifestations. The palate is obviously dense, with considerable grip and ultra-fine tannins, incipient silkiness, but not the creaminess of the Echezeaux. Fresh berry, faintly tart fruit skin, and nut oils inform an uncannily kinetic finish that makes one’s mouth quiver.
Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.
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Echezeaux DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 94-95 point (RP)
Tasting Notes (Wine Advocate # 170 April 2007)
The 2005 Echezeaux delivers ravishingly sweet, high-toned aromas of black raspberry, maraschino, marzipan, marmalade and iodine. It saturates the palate with sweet, ripe fruit and inner-mouth perfume, while introducing layers of fresh meat and shrimp-shell minerality. The texture is amazingly creamy and polished, and the long, refined finish adds an alluring hint of mocha. Superb saturation of ultra-ripe fruit but with freshness; remarkable concentration yet elegance, lift, indeed near weightlessness: this is 2005 at its best. The temptation to drink this in its early years will, I suspect, be irresistible ... let’s hope so anyway. It would be a shame for this beauty to be locked away as a collectible, even if it is capable of long-aging.
Once the grapes in these fabled vineyards had reached a potential alcohol of 13%, reports Aubert de Villaine, he was ready to pick, because conditions had seldom been so conducive to perfect ripeness (including that of the stems). It was all done in a week, commencing with La Tache and Romanee Conti, and finishing on September 23 with Romanee-St.-Vivant (and Montrachet, on which I shall report at a future date). De Villaine intended to bottle in March or April by gravity in six-barrel lots, as has become general practice here over the past decade.
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Montrachet DRC 2005
OWC: 75 cl
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La Romanée 1999 (Bouchard Pére & Fils)
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 96 (Burghound Allen Meadows)
Very deep, almost black ruby color. There is a healthy dose of new wood but there is absolutely no doubt that this wine has sufficient density to absorb it. Extremely ripe, rich and expressive for young La Romanée, which is often severe, reserved and austere in its youth. The intensity of this wine is dialed way up with thick, super ripe aromas of black berries, oriental spices, tea, leather and a trace of underbrush coupled with extremely dense, extract of pinot noir flavors and fine, dusty tannins that create a massively structured wine that somehow remains in perfect balance. There is unusual volume as well yet the wine remains elegant with outstanding mid-palate concentration. Simply fabulous potential that
should permit this to be extremely long lived and a wine that hasn't
changed a bit since my last review in February of 2001.
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La Romanée 2003 (Bouchard Pére & Fils)
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 94 (Burghound Allen Meadows)
Super ripe, spicy and sexy black fruit aromas that are neither surmature nor roasted have nuances of mocha, tobacco, anise and clove framed by a background touch of oak toast merge into extract of pinot flavors that coat the mouth and are unbelievably complex and quite fine given the general character of the vintage. This is an exciting and ageworthy wine with that "wow" factor, crafted in a very ripe but not jammy or
over-the-top style.
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Le Montrachet 2003 (Bouchard Pére & Fils)
OWC: 75 cl
Rating: 92 (Burghound Allen Meadows)
Somewhat surprisingly given my usual experience with the La Cabotte, this is the freshest wine of any with bright and highly complex aromas that introduce big, powerful, sappy and very rich flavors that obviously are carrying an underlying reserve of potential. The level of dry extract is impressive and this completely coats and stains the palate on the superbly long finish. To drink over the medium term.
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