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98 Robert Parker
An extraordinary as well as extraordinarily intense aromatic display greets you from the glass of 2006 Romanee-Conti. Rose petals, griotte cherries, almond extract, mint, and cinnamon once again put me in mind of archetypal pinot with a soupcon of Gewurztraminer. The remarkable perfume and spice continue inner-mouth, allied to a silken textural refinement (as if the tannins were self-dissolving); to pure, fresh, but not at all superficially sweet cherry and raspberry essence; and to deep, marrowy meatiness and hints of truffle and forest floor. This pivots at midpoint, as it were ? though far more subtly than does its Richebourg sibling ? from perfume and fruit to almost sinister animal and mineral suggestions. The finish here is at once positively ethereal and deeply, darkly mysterious, like lingering harmony at the extremes of audibility. I suspect it will also outlive the other wines from this estate and vintage.
97 Wine Spectator
Charming and precocious from barrel, this is now a little shy at first, but then the rose aroma emerges. Very elegant and refined, yet firm, teasingly hinting at the floral, wild strawberry and cherry notes that will come to the fore in time.—Non-blind 2006 DRC tasting (February 2009). Best from 2015 through 2030.
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.