Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet 1982-2012
Many months in the making, this retrospective of Domaine de
la Romanée-Conti’s Montrachet spanned 21 vintages going back to 1982.
The wines were sourced from members of one of my local tasting groups in New York City, with each person contributing 2-3 bottles, including backups. The bottles were opened around 5pm and checked for soundness, which is also when I wrote the accompanying tasting notes. Two wines, the 2006 and the 2001, were quite reticent, and were given a quick decant, but aside from that, the wines simply saw a few hours of air before being served.
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Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1447783929242-Montrachet12.jpg">
The small size of our group provided a rare opportunity to follow the wines over several hours. Sommeliers Will Nazar and John Slover did a fabulous job handling the wines and ensuring that service was flawless. The epic dinner that followed at Dirty French was worthy of its own write-up, but I will concentrate on the wines.
Montrachet Across Four Decades
Some of my favorite vintages on this night included the 2010, which was absolutely stellar. I also thought the 2008 and 2007 were fabulous, if young, while the 1996 remains one of the all-time greats. As is often the case in a large tasting such as this one, there were a few disappointments. Two bottles of the 2005 were oxidized, while the 2002 was not up to par and the 1993 was corked.
But the single biggest takeaway from this vertical was the consistently high level of quality the domaine has achieved with the Montrachet beginning in the early 2000s. Several recent follow-up tastings have only served to reinforce that view, although as mentioned above, we did have two off bottles of the 2005. There is simply no question that the Montrachets from the 2000s and later are on an entirely different level compared to the wines of the 1980s and 1990s.
