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76 By Robert Parker
PRODUCTION: 1,444 cases. This is an odd performing wine, with an intense, vegetal nose which, if I did not know I was tasting La Tache, I would have thought was a 20-year old Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon from Monterey, California. The color exhibits considerable brown and orange, and the wine reveals a compact, surprisingly austere style for a DRC wine. Some tasters dwelled on the intellectual side of this wine, noting it had personality and character, but from a hedonistic point of view it was mediocre, not to mention bizarre.
Producer
Domaine de la Romanée Conti
Not only the most iconic domaine in Burgundy, but also possibly in France and even in the world. With a monopoly of the two greatest vineyards - Romanée-Conti and La Tâche - and with a generous handful of some others within Vosne-Romanée and beyond, it secured its revered position all while being completely discreet and even modest. It is co-owned by the Villaine and Leroy-Roch families, with Aubert de Villaine guiding the ship since 1974. But it can trace its roots back to the 13th century, when its first vines were planted by the monks of Saint-Vivant. They have been organic since the 1980s and biodynamic since the 1990s. They are also undoubtedly the most famous domaine in the region that uses (and has always used) whole cluster fermentation, an established technique that was eschewed by Henri Jayer, but has inspired many others in recent years. Allen Meadows, arguably the most knowledgeable Burgundy expert and critic in the world, has only given one wine a perfect score - the 1945 Romanée-Conti.