Tasted in Vosne-Romanée with Perrine Fenal & Bertrand de Villaine, 13 November 2023.
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
1 Place de l’Église
21700 Vosne-Romanée
www.romanee-conti.com
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On 2022:
“We do our best to try not to fall into the trap of high sugars – we welcomed higher degrees with open arms 20 years ago – but the date of harvest is now critical, and complicated by the fact that much is ready at the same time. It was also like that in 2023 – we had to hire more pickers for the Charlemagne as it was also ready the same time – and we want to avoid rushing decisions despite being more organised than before. We had some rain in August in 2022 so we had no worries of blockage, we saw it in 2019 but only worried about it in 2023! I think that these 2022s are already showing well their characters – If I compare them to the 2009 vintage, those all tasted like 2009s at this stage.”
Straight after the harvest of 2023, the domaine decided that the time was right to pull out a part of their plantation in Montrachet. “A third, 20 rows have been removed. It will be a mix of cereals and legumes that will be ploughed back in and we will wait three to re-plant.”
The wines…
Of all the domaines that used whole clusters in 2022, the domaine here is towards the top of the list of those whose wines show the aromatics quite strongly. It has, historically, never been a problem for the domaine’s wines and that will surely also be the case in 2022. As you may expect, there are multiple very great wines wearing these labels in this vintage.
2022 Corton
‘Nothing has changed. The first harvested vines had not much difference in ripeness – only the young plants eg the young Bressandes (planted in 2017) was done separately and won’t be in this wine. ‘
Today quite a herbed aromatic but broad and very forward. But this is a wine of great scale and supple shape, velour of texture. Really a fine finish already with more floral references… Certainly excellent Corton but the aromatics must come together much more for great.
2022 Echézeaux
‘The soil here is less deep than many of the other crus.’
Also today, this wine has quite a prominent layer of whole cluster herb – like the Corton. Wide, quite full, also texturally of velour but a touch finer here. Some extra length – this will be a wonderful Echezeaux but like the Corton, the aromatics are far from ready today.
Also a strong aromatic mark from the stems here – the herb is even more forward but it’s the first wine with some overt floral character too – this is developing beautifully in the glass. Hmm even silkier, more direct and driving – super sophistication here. So far, the broadest and most persistent finishing wine – there’s much to suggest greatness here!
One part replanted in 2010 is not yet incorporated, but maybe soon…
Ooh – now here is perfume – silken and red! For the first time, the room falls silent. Mobile, almost fluid yet the structure is there, a small rub of über-fine grained tannin. A softness of touch despite the structure of the wine. A wine built for the word feminine but there is muscle here too, bravo! If the GE suggested greatness, it is much clearer here!
0.8 ha in Veroilles was pulled out 4 years ago – half of that has just replanted – so there’s still no Veroilles in this cuvee and maybe that accounts for more elegance in the last couple of years?
Hmm, a faint young herb but here is also perfume mixed with both power and depth. Hmm, a rounder shape, velour again – super depth, not the structure of older Richebourgs I’ve tasted here but what a finishing width and length!!!
More open, airy and complex – very rewarding. Ooh, character, silken, direct – like a larger GE – growing larger and larger in the middle and finish. Wow wine! It’s a wine like this that reminds me that I should one weekend put the Beaujolais aside and open one up at home!!
A little more delay in readiness like some of the earlier wines – lots of scale here and with a seamless impression that becomes finer and finer with air. Hmm, the silkiest of all – bubbling with energy, a faint caramel in this world of complexity. The last flavours like a long beam of light, wrapped on a slightly zesty grain of bitters – there seems more scale to this wine than LT – and it is sometimes like that… Super impressive, certainly great wine…
Something for the road :
White! Plenty of colour. Broad, slightly floral, growing with interest and faint, direct corn and honey references. Hmm, a calm style to this, its flavour melts over the palate. What super structure there is behind and with super balance. The structure declares ‘Charlemagne’ but I’d guess more like a 2015 than a 2019 but 2019 is, of course, the oldest that they have… Actually, it’s 2020 Corton-Charlemagne! It’s showing much more developed (aromatically) than I would have expected – maybe I shouldn’t wait too long for my bottle!
There were just 1,900 bottles of their Charlemagne in 2021 after the frost, compared to 6,000 of La Tâche…