Close
Search
Filters
Critics scores
92 Robert Parker
PRODUCTION: 1,097 cases. The most controversial vintage over the last several decades, the 1983 reveals a dark ruby/garnet color with noticeable lightening at the edge. The intoxicatingly perfumed bouquet offers up intense aromas of earth, mushrooms, sweet, overripe black-raspberry fruit, prunes, smoke, and Asian spices. The complex aromatics are followed by a powerful, tannic, highly concentrated wine with immense body, some astringency, and a huge, alcoholic, rich, glycerin-dominated finish. While it is not the purest example of La Tache, it is one of the few great expressions of this vintage. It should drink well for another 10-15+ years, although the color will continue to become more degraded with aging.
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.