The Picardy Third: 2016 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti In Bottle
BY NEAL MARTIN |
When black-hearted Mother Nature cursed France with a devastating late-April frost in 2016, she twisted her knife by maximising the inequality of its distribution across wine regions. For starters, she decided Bordeaux would get off scot-free while she punished Burgundy et al. Within the Côte d’Or she spared Morey-Saint-Denis but threw Chambolle-Musigny to the dogs. She hammered Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux but pardoned Romanée-Conti and Richebourg. Even within individual climats, Jack Frost ran riot in certain sections but not others – for example, laying waste to the Chassagne but not the Puligny half of Montrachet, where Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s parcel fell victim. Mother Nature revelled in the frost’s irrational dispersal, leaving growers who thought they had seen it all bewildered that one vineyard previously thought impervious to frost was ruined, while more exposed vineyards were left untouched. Furthermore, she had no qualms about who was affected, being indifferent to status or value of wines. As a consequence, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was denied its own Montrachet and made do with negligible quantities of Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux, a salient reminder that everyone is at the mercy of Nature.
So, as expected, this year’s annual tasting of the latest bottled vintage at UK agent Corney & Barrow was two bottles shorter than usual, since the Montrachet is never shown. The domaine eked out some fruit from Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux, but the figures tell you everything you need to know. Cropped at 6hL/ha, there are just 980 magnums of 2016 Echézeaux and, cropped at 7hL/ha, just 710 magnums of the 2016 Grands Echézeaux. “I miss them,” Bertrand de Villaine confessed. “There is a gap between the Corton and the Romanée-Saint-Vivant.” I understood exactly what he meant. Tasting the complete portfolio is like jumping from one stepping stone to the next across the stream: Corton, Echézeaux, Grands Echézeaux, Romanée-Saint-Vivant, Richebourg, La Tâche and finally Romanée-Conti, when everyone lets out a silent cheer. This year, you had to leap from Corton to Romanée-Saint-Vivant, and the family of wines did feel incomplete. Bertrand told me that the Grands Echézeaux had tasted spectacularly from barrel, though as yet, no magnums have been cracked open to see the finished result. I enquired what their intentions are for these 1,690 magnums. At the moment, the domaine is considering options, but they are certainly not going to be released contemporaneously with the other five Grand Crus. My guess is that we will see a late release when the wines are ready. Of course, there is the multi-domaine blend of 2016 Montrachet raised at Domaine Leflaive, though I have not read of any concrete plans for its distribution.
Bertrand de Villaine, pictured at the 2016 tasting
Everyone is at the mercy of Mother Nature, including the most famous domaine in Burgundy. Late spring frost denied Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s three releases of their 2016 vintage, but how do the surviving crus fare now that they are in bottle? Do they finish on a major or minor chord?
