2015 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet Grand Cru

Tropical, lush and totally seductive, the 2015 Montrachet captures the purest essence of the year in lush fruit, soft contours and tropical inflections. Although it is very young, the 2015 is also incredibly alluring and full of character. I can’t wait to see how it ages. Tasted at the DRC Montrachet charity event in New York.

The 2015 Montrachet Grand Cru is still predictably youthful, unfurling in the glass with aromas of crisp Anjou pear, buttered citrus, tangerine oil and a prominent framing of very classy new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, multidimensional and concentrated, both satiny and textural without being remotely unctuous, and underpinned by succulent, even tangy acids. At this stage, where the wine really shows its pedigree is in its extraordinarily long, oak-inflected finish. Given the vintage, one might have expected more ripeness and drama, but the domaine is picking its Montrachet a bit earlier these days, and that has done it no harm at all in 2015. It would be interesting to taste this wine alongside Ramonet's example, which is both more textural and less overtly oaky, but my sense is that the two are on the same qualitative level in their very different styles.