2015 Romanee Conti

The 2015 Romanée-Conti rand Cru was picked at 22.65hl/ha on 10 September. This is almost dichotomous to the La Tâche: feminine, sensual, pure with perfumed red cherries, wild strawberry, crushed limestone and rose petals that are all exquisitely defined. These aromatics? They seem to sing to you. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannin that render this so poised and precise, yet simultaneously deep and quite powerful. In a sense, it is more like a La Tâche in style, a Romanée-Conti that seeks to assert its authority from day one. There is wonderful cohesion and harmony here, an effortless quality that distinguishes this historic vineyard. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a bona fide classic Romanée-Conti, one of the finest that I have tasted in over two decades attending this same tasting in bottle. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London.

The 2015 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru is one of the pinnacles of this great red Burgundy vintage, opening in the glass to reveal a bouquet of kaleidoscopic complexity, notes of raspberry and red plum mingling with rose petal, peony, blood orange and spice. On the palate, the wine is silky, medium to full-bodied and stunningly complete, its supremely elegant tannins entirely cloaked in pristinely delicate red fruit. Despite its incredible concentration and persistence, this Romanée-Conti is utterly weightless, and its effortless harmony and unremitting finish preclude any argument about its benchmark quality. Cropped at 22 hectoliters per hectare and harvested September 10.