2013 Romanee Conti

Bright, dark red. Very reticent nose hints at plum, noble herbs and musky mulch. Plush and utterly spherical in the mouth, delivering a rare combination of richness and weightlessness. Began with primary fruit taking a back seat to lower-toned, soil-driven smoke, minerals and underbrush, but lively raspberry and spice elements emerged with aeration. Great depth and sweetness here owing to the tiny yield of less than 18 hectoliters per hectare, but less sexy in the early going than La Tâche. A wine of great class and length, this firmly tannic Romanée-Conti will evolve positively for decades.

The 2013 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru was picked in the afternoon of October 8 at a yield of 17.5 hectoliters per hectare. I remember this was taciturn in barrel vis-à-vis the La Tâche, which is commonly the case, however here it sprints from the blocks thanks to a life-affirming bouquet of red plum, wild strawberry, cold wet limestone and black truffle that segues into something almost girolles-like, even smoky. Like the 2013 La Tâche, it is very mercurial in the glass and to that end, I stretched my sample out for 10-15 minutes. The palate is medium-bodied and very harmonious on the entry. Filigree tannin frame this wine, perfect acidity lending freshness and tension, here a gradual build towards a delineated, almost edgy finish. It brought to the forefront of my mind an actor about to utter the first line of a play. Give it several years in bottle before you start throwing bouquets onto the stage, for the performance will be worth the wait. Production is 312 cases. Tasted February 2016.

The 2013 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru was picked in the afternoon of October 8 at a yield of 17.5 hectoliters per hectare. I remember this was taciturn in barrel vis-à-vis the La Tâche, which is commonly the case, however here it sprints from the blocks thanks to a life-affirming bouquet of red plum, wild strawberry, cold wet limestone and black truffle that segues into something almost girolles-like, even smoky. Like the 2013 La Tâche, it is very mercurial in the glass and to that end, I stretched my sample out for 10-15 minutes. The palate is medium-bodied and very harmonious on the entry. Filigree tannin frame this wine, perfect acidity lending freshness and tension, here a gradual build towards a delineated, almost edgy finish. It brought to the forefront of my mind an actor about to utter the first line of a play. Give it several years in bottle before you start throwing bouquets onto the stage, for the performance will be worth the wait. Production is 312 cases.