2014 Romanée St-Vivant, Grand Cru, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Burgundy

2014 Romanée St-Vivant, Grand Cru, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Burgundy

Product: 20148122148
 
2014 Romanée St-Vivant, Grand Cru, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Burgundy

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Description

A deft but not invisible application of wood sets off the airy, cool and strikingly elegant nose that is composed by notes of both red and dark currant, a wide range of floral and spice elements as well as Asian-style tea scents. The refined and caressing middle weight flavors possess a sleek and cool mouth feel while retaining good definition on the firm but well-balanced and sneaky long finish that exhibits a bit less finesse than usual even if it is still quite fine.

Drink 2029+

Burghound.com (Jan 2017)

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Critics reviews

Burghound95/100
A deft but not invisible application of wood sets off the airy, cool and strikingly elegant nose that is composed by notes of both red and dark currant, a wide range of floral and spice elements as well as Asian-style tea scents. The refined and caressing middle weight flavors possess a sleek and cool mouth feel while retaining good definition on the firm but well-balanced and sneaky long finish that exhibits a bit less finesse than usual even if it is still quite fine.

Drink 2029+

Burghound.com (Jan 2017) Read more
Jancis Robinson MW18.5/20
Pale to mid garnet, lighter than the Échezeaux and Grands Échezeaux. A change of gear in aroma too, with sweeter red fruit, though not as sweet or red as on the Corton. Already beautifully fragrant and expressive on the nose and just a hint of oak spice and lightly smoky/mineral. But it is the fruit that is most expressive at the moment. With air, that mineral quality becomes more marked, with a light cedar quality adding to the impression of freshness. Again a touch of mint or balsam. Deep and supple on the palate, the acidity more marked than on the Échezeaux and Grands Échezeaux giving it a more streamlined shape on the palate, the tannins carried along by the acidity rather than holding everything in. With air, a little more stemmy. Really deep and with a more chocolate texture to the tannins on the finish, smooth but grainy.

Drink 2029 - 2045

Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com (Feb 2017) Read more
Wine Advocate95/100
The 2014 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru was picked on 21, 22 and 23 September cropped at 31.6 hectoliters per hectare. Now this has a distinctly earthy bouquet, one that leads you into the dark woods. Yes, there is plenty of vivacious red berry fruit, here augmented with something autumnal, brown leaves on an October morning, moss and tree bark. Then with continued aeration, these shift away and are replaced by pure floral aromas. The palate is very precise on the entry with a touch of orange rind and mandarin complementing the crushed strawberry and raspberry fruit; there is a touch of spiciness towards the finish that exerts a gentle, yet insistent grip à la Richebourg. The persistence here is very impressive and it just seems to blossom in the glass until you have utterly succumbed to its charms. 1,756 cases produced. Tasted February 2017.

Drink 2019 - 2035

Neal Martin, Wine Advoacate (Feb 2017) Read more
Decanter96/100
Delicious savoury notes as well as some red fruit and candied citrus peel. An extremely polished texture and a spicy finish. A wine of great class and harmony that is often overlooked because this legendary estate has so many stars in its stable.

Drink 2024 - 2050

Gerard Basset MW, decanter.com (Feb 2016) Read more
Stephen Tanzer94+/100
Bright, full red. Restrained but very pure perfume of dark raspberry, black cherry, menthol, licorice and black pepper. Dense, silky and suave on entry, conveying a sexy sweetness to its juicy dark fruit, mineral and spice flavors. This wine struck me as comparatively feminine in style, but not for long, as it quickly went into a shell in the glass. Finishes very long, with firm-edged tannins, noteworthy saline complexity and superb precision. Bertrand de Villaine described this wine as "a bit chaotic" in the early going.

Drink 2027 - 2040

Stephen Tanzer, vinous.com (Mar 2017) Read more

About this WINE

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC)

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC)

Domaine de la Romanée Conti is co-owned by the de Villaine and Leroy/Roch families, the former successors to Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet who bought the vineyard of La Romanée Conti in 1869, the latter since acquiring the shares of other descendants of Duvault-Blochet in 1942. The domaine is today run by Aubert de Villaine. Many people in Burgundy just refer to 'DRC' as "the Domaine".

The domaine has 25 hectares of vineyards, all Grand Crus. As well as the 1.8 hectare monopole La Romanée Conti, the Domaine purchased its other monopole, La Tâche, in 1933, along with significant holdings in the grand crus of Richebourg, Romanée-St-Vivant, Grands Échezeaux, Échezeaux and Le Montrachet at various points in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Domaine is the largest owners of each of the red wine grand crus.

The wines are made by Alexandre Bernier, in succession to Bernard Noblet. Whole clusters are used (no destemming) with a long vatting time avoiding excesses of heat. Yields are mind-numbingly low and the winemaking is traditional and perfectionist. These are not merely among the most sumptuous wines of Burgundy but certainly the most stylish. Ancestor Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet was an advocate of harvesting late in order to ensure optimum ripeness, a philosophy to which his descendants adhere today.

Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Wine Director and author of the award-winning Inside Burgundy comprehensive handbook.

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Vosne-Romanée

Vosne-Romanée

The small commune of Vosne-Romanée is the Côte de Nuits brightest star, producing the finest and most expensive Pinot Noir wines in the world.. Its wines have an extraordinary intensity of fruit which manages to combine power and finesse more magically than in any other part of the Côte d’Or. The best examples balance extraordinary depth and richness with elegance and breeding.

Situated just north of Nuits-St Georges, Vosne-Romanée boasts eight Grand Cru vineyards, three of which include the suffix Romanée, to which the village of Vosne appended its name in 1866. The famous La Romanée vineyard was formerly known as Le Cloux but was renamed in 1651, presumably after the Roman remains found nearby. In 1760 the property was bought by Prince de Conti, and subsequently became known as Romanée-Conti.

Vosne is the home of the phenomenally fine wines of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti; divine wines that are, as they say, not for everyone but for those who can afford them. The region also boasts some of the world’s most talented, quality-conscious and pioneering producers: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti of course, but also Henri Jayer, Lalou Bize-Leroy, René Engel, as well as the Grivot and Gros families, to name but a few.

Vosne-Romanée has the greatest concentration of top vineyards in the Côte d’Or, including the tiny Grand Crus of the astonishing La Romanée-Conti (a monopoly of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti producing about 600 cases a year), the classy, complex La Romanée (a monopoly of Vicomte Liger-Belair, but until 2002 bottled under Bouchard Père et Fils, producing a minuscule 300 cases or so a year) and the little-known La Grande Rue. As the name suggests, this runs up the side of the road out of Vosne. Originally a Premier Cru, it was rightly upgraded in 1992, although its rich, spicy, floral Pinots are yet to reach their real potential under Domaine Lamarche who hold it as a monopoly.

By convention the wines of neighbouring Flagey-Echézeaux are considered part of Vosne-Romanée. These include the large, very variable 30-hectare Echézeaux (divided between 84 different growers) and the more consistent, silky, intense, violet-scented Grands Echézeaux Grands Crus.

La Tâche is another monopoly of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. It is explosively seductive with a peerless finesse, and is almost as good as their legendary eponymous wine. Richebourg is one of Burgundy’s most voluptuous wines and is capable of challenging La Tâche in some years, while Romanée-St Vivant, which takes its name from the monastery of St Vivant built around 900AD in Vergy, has a lovely silky finesse but is slightly less powerful.

If that wasn’t enough, Vosne-Romanée also boasts some absolutely magnificent Premiers Crus headed by Clos des Réas, Les Malconsorts (just south of La Tâche, and arguably of Grand Cru quality) and Les Chaumes on the Nuits-St Georges side, Cros Parantoux (made famous by Henri Jayer), Les Beaux Monts and Les Suchots on the Flagey-Echézeaux border. The old maxim that ‘there are no common wines in Vosne-Romanée’ may not be strictly true, but it is not far off.

Drinking dates vary, but as a general rule of thumb Grand Crus are best drunk from at least 10 to 25 years, while Premier Crus can be enjoyed from 8 to 20 years, and village wines from 5 to 12 years.

There are no white wines produced in Vosne-Romanée.
  • 99 hectares of village Vosne-Romanée.
  • 56 hectares of Premier Cru vineyards (14 in all). Foremost vineyards include Les Gaudichots, Les Malconsorts, Cros Parentoux, Les Suchots, Les Beauxmonts, En Orveaux and Les Reignots.
  • 75 hectares of Grand Cru vineyards: Romanée-Conti, La Romanée, La Tache, Richebourg, Romanée St Vivant, La Grande Rue, Grands Echézeaux, Echézeaux.
  • Recommended producers: Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Leroy, Cathiard, Engel, Rouget, Grivot, Liger Belair.

 

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Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.

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