Log in / Sign up Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg 2021
Domaine de la Romanée Conti is co-owned by the de Villaine and Leroy/Roch families, the former successors to Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet who bought the vineyard of La Romanée Conti in 1869, the latter since acquiring the shares of other descendants of Duvault-Blochet in 1942. The domaine is today run by Aubert de Villaine. Many people in Burgundy just refer to 'DRC' as "the Domaine". DRC wine is as good as it gets.
The domaine has 25 hectares of vineyards, all Grand Crus. As well as the 1.8-hectare monopole La Romanée Conti, the Domaine purchased its other monopole, La Tâche, in 1933, along with significant holdings in the grand crus of Richebourg, Romanée-St-Vivant, Grands Échezeaux, Échezeaux and Le Montrachet at various points in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Domaine is the largest owners of each of the red wine grand crus.
The wines are made by Alexandre Bernier, in succession to Bernard Noblet. Whole clusters are used (no destemming) with a long vatting time avoiding excesses of heat. Yields are mind-numbingly low, and the winemaking is traditional and perfectionist. These are not merely among the most sumptuous wines of Burgundy but certainly the most stylish. Ancestor Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet was an advocate of harvesting late in order to ensure optimum ripeness, a philosophy to which his descendants adhere today.
Duck, Goose and Game Birds
The 2021 Richebourg Grand Cru derives entirely from lieu-dit Les Richebourg, as the domaine's holdings in Les Verroilles ou Richebourg are being replanted, though quite whether that has subtly altered the style of the bottling is hard to say with just one vintage in bottle. It's both fuller and primer than the Saint-Vivant this year, exhibiting dark cherry and framboise fruit tones mingled with notions of peony, candied peel and spruce bough.
Full-bodied, sumptuous and satiny, with a textural attack that segues into a richly paltered core of fruit, its plenitude is as impressive as its long, sapid finish.
