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  • Country ranking ?

    706
  • Producer ranking ?

    126
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Beef Tenderloin with Shitake and Crisp Rosemary Potatoes

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

 “As if, in this square of earth, the gods had bequeathed us a memory of the fascinating vestige of a timeless perfection.” — Richard Olney. The wine of Prince de Conti, she is velvet, seduction and mystery. It is the most Proustian of all great wines.

 

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is without question the most famous estate in Burgundy and arguably the greatest, producing some of the best wines in the world. It is probably one of the most traditional wineries in France. Wines are produced in small quantities while the demand is huge. The domaine has 25 hectares of vineyards, all Grand Crus, including the jewel in the crown, the 1.8 hectare monopole of Romanée Conti.

Romanée-Conti, a vineyard of four and a half acres,was originally the property of the Abbey of St. Vivant. In 1760 Prince Conti acquired it against the competition of a famous collector of jewellery, Madame de Pompadour – the king’s minister against the king’s mistress. He withdrew it from the market and reserved it for his own dazzling social events. It was he who created the myth surrounding Romanée-Conti.

The price of this tiny, treasured vineyard was 80.000 livres, which in those days was worth a small kingdom. Reclaimed as property of the nation during the Revolution, the vineyard passed through the hands of several proprietors to an ancestor of the present owner for 14.000 gold pounds in 1868.

–We are the keeper of a certain philosophy of wine and, mainly, we are concerned by the perfection in details" assures Aubert de Villaine. 

 

Romanée-Conti lies on brown limestone soils 60 cm deep with a major clay component. Romanée-Saint-Vivant has similar but deeper (90 cm) soils. Higher up, La Romanée occupies a markedly sloping site (12%) and the soil texture is less clayey. La Tâche and La Grande Rue share brown limestone soils, rather shallow at the top end with deeper rendzinas lower down. The same is true for the Richebourg, depending on slope and aspect. The underlying rock is hard Premeaux limestone dating from the Jurassic (175 million years BC).

Lying between Flagey-Échezeaux (home of the ÉCHEZEAUX appellation) and Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée occupies a middle position in the Côte de Nuits. The vines grow at altitudes of 250 to 310 metres and face east or, in some cases, slightly south of east. Vosne-Romanée, the central jewel in the necklace of appellations which is the burgundian côte, is not content with holding a mere four aces but boasts a total of six Grands Crus, each one famous the world over. A thousand years ago, it was the Cluniac monks of Saint-Vivant de Vergy and the Cistercians of Cîteaux who first realised the value of these very special plots of land. 
One of these vineyards takes its name from Prince Conti who lost his heart to it in 1760. Romanée-Conti is one of the wonders ofthe world and has always been a singly-held entity. Next door to it, Romanée-Saint-Vivant recalls the medieval monastery of the Hautes-Côtes which is currently undergoing restoration and which is linked to it by its own path. La Romanée, La Tâche and La Grande Rue are also singly-held entities, as is Richebourg, whose mere name is enough to fill a glass.

 

These Grands Crus frequently give good results from long laying-down. As a general rule, they shouldn't be drunk under about ten years of age but sometimes they will be aged up to 20 or 30 years. Each appellation has its own distinct personality depending on its year of production and on the stage it has reached in its development. These flamboyant red wines fully express the subtlety and complexity of the Burgundian Pinot Noir grape. Their colour is a dark ruby turning crimson with age. Their wide-ranging bouquet is divided among small red and black fruits, violet, spices and, with time, underbrush. On the palate, this wine is well-defined with a powerful body. It is delicate, sensual, frank and full.

 

In addition to their powerful structure and exceptional longevity, these great wines develop tertiary aromas of truffle, underbrush, leather and fur. It goes without saying that strong-flavoured meats will do them justice : furred or feathered game, braised, in sauce, or simply grilled. Wild-fowl (eg Peking duck) or a nice cut of roast veal will be gently enveloped by the close-packed but elegant tannins of these mighty Pinot Noir wines.

Serving temperatures : 15 to 16 °C.

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Wine Information

Romanée-Conti led Bonhams Fine & Rare Wines, Cognac and Single Malt Whisky Auction on 21 November 2012 at the Island Shangri-La in Hong Kong with seven of the top eight lots coming from this iconic Burgundy domaine. A case of the 1988 vintage made HK$1,047,200 (£84,686) and six bottles of the 1995 vintage achieved HK$511,700 (£41,380).

These seven lots of Romanée-Conti all came from a private European collector. "The results show that buyers are prepared to pay top prices for the best wines with excellent provenance. Romanée-Conti is now clearly established as one of the most sought after wines in Asia," said Richard Harvey, Bonhams' Master of Wine.

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Vintage 1988

1988 VINTAGE in Burgundy / 1988 has been a good vintage in Burgundy, with enough quantity to offset the revived demand of our foreign and home customers.​

Good summer weather meant an early harvest of excellent quality for the reds. Rich and well structured, these wines which were a little rough in their youth today offer a wonderful opportunity to drink quality mature Pinot Noir, the best will continue to improve. The great whites can be put in the same category as the reds : full, round, well balanced and are very good to drink now.

The nearly geat year

As anyone knows, what we need in Burgundy is warm weather all the time, with the exception of a few showers now and then just to keep the leaves green, and at the end of the season to help the vine continue to produce sugar and to lower acidity.

The spell of cold that we had at the beginning of September interrupted a long period of sunshine and stopped for a while the maturing of the grapes: rain only came during the vendange itself, too late to ensure their perfect ripening.

The last days of the season were, as always, the most breath-taking, with marvellous summer-like weather in the second half of September. Harvesting as late as possible was beneficial, as it nearly always is: there was no rot on the superb bunches of grapes, a deep colour, and an excellent balance of the various elements. 

During the summer of 1988 and until the very end we had only one half of the average rainfall. This deficit was difficult to overcome and, with the hot weather of August and most of September and the happy flowering of the grapes in the middle of June, we have been just a hair's breadth from a great vintage.

All the good winegrowers who had pruned carefully and not indulged in high yields easily obtained from 12 to 12.5 potential degrees of alcohol, which indicates very good quality; and although the lack of rain slowed the ripening, it had the advantage of keeping the individual grapes small, giving concentration, tannin and colour to the wines.

After the first "décuvage", the overall impression is that the red wines have structure and tannin, with a beautiful vivid colour, the depth of which is really only seen in good vintages.

The acidity is medium to high and it is obvious that we will have a "vin de garde", which will mellow only after a long period of ageing in cask and bottle.

It is difficult to compare 1988 with another vintage, as precocity usually means that the vines have had plenty of sunshine and produce mellow and soft wines; however, the `88 will compare more with a very good vintage picked in October, like 1978 or 1952.

The great whites will be put in the same category as the reds: good structure, power and a lot of firmness.

In the Beaujolais, the news is excellent too: good colour, perfect ripening and overall abundance.

 

 

 

 

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Average Bottle Price

2017 2015 2014 2012 2010 2005 2000
14 230€ +19.7% 11 890€ +3.0% 11 549€ +42.8% 8 090€ +22.6% 6 598€ +145.3% 2 690€ +62.1% 1 659€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Tasting note

color

Medium

ending

Long, Lingering and Spicy

flavors

Blackberry, Voluptuous, Blackcurrant and Floral

nose

Intense, Ripe, Seductive and Refined

recommend

Yes

taste

Complex, Well-structured, Medium-bodied, Rich and Ripe

Written Notes

Moderately deep, ruby colour with tawny tints. Ripe but restrained dark fruitnose with perfumed tones of violets and musk. Somehow mystically powerful and seductive nose. Crisp and firm acidity takes a grip on the rich medium-bodied palate. High level of masculine tannins ishidden partly under extracted ripe fruitiness of dark berries – wild strawberries, blackberries and boysenberries. Very powerful experience with rich floral and musky/spicy tones in the lingering finish. Very charming wine with more to come in the future.

  • 95p

The 1988 DRC La Tache was also corked (DQ), but the 1988 DRC Romanee Conti was just fine. It had a deep, iron nose and was ‘very tight’ per one guest. There was a lot of rock, paper and scissors in the house. This was a stony and zippy vintage of RC, or DRC for that matter, with minerals rippling throughout its finish. The acidity of RC stood out again. I was starting to figure it out :) (95).

  • 95p

"In 1988 there are 575 cases of Romanee-Conti. Consumers should be deliriously happy, considering there were only 225 cases in 1987. It is more backward than the 1987, 1986, or 1985, and is one of the fullest and most tannic examples of Romanee-Conti I have tasted this decade. It may even outlive the otherworldly 1985. It is staggeringly concentrated with a bouquet that almost defies articulation. There is no doubting what it is and who made it. It is a flashy, dramatic wine with astonishing length and mystique. I would not dare touch a bottle before the mid- to late nineties. The prices for the wines of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti may be exorbitant but the quality of the wines produced in the eighties is truly remarkable. The 1988s are celestial wines selling at stratospheric prices. The 1988 production was twice what it was in 1987, but the same as in 1985. The 1988s are fuller-bodied, deeper, more concentrated wines than the superb 1987s, and will need some time in the cellar to shed their generous amounts of tannin. The only vintage they can be favorably compared with is the 1985 vintage, and the 1985s were a great deal more forward and flattering to taste when young.

  • 97p
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Information

Origin

Vosne-Romanée, Burgundy

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Poor

Investment potential

Very Good

Fake factory

Be Cautious

Glass time

2h

Other wines from this producer

Bâtard-Montrachet

Corton-Charlemagne

Corton Grand Cru

Echézeaux

Grands Echézeaux

La Romanée-Conti Grand Cru

La Tâche

Les Gaudichots

Marc

Montrachet

Richebourg

Romanee Saint Vivant

Vosne Romanée

Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault Blochet

Inside Information

Parker 97p / In 1988 there are 575 cases of Romanee-Conti. Consumers should be deliriously happy, considering there were only 225 cases in 1987. It is more backward than the 1987, 1986, or 1985, and is one of the fullest and most tannic examples of Romanee-Conti I have tasted this decade. It may even outlive the otherworldly 1985. It is staggeringly concentrated with a bouquet that almost defies articulation. There is no doubting what it is and who made it. It is a flashy, dramatic wine with astonishing length and mystique. I would not dare touch a bottle before the mid- to late nineties.

The prices for the wines of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti may be exorbitant but the quality of the wines produced in the eighties is truly remarkable. The 1988s are celestial wines selling at stratospheric prices. The 1988 production was twice what it was in 1987, but the same as in 1985. The 1988s are fuller-bodied, deeper, more concentrated wines than the superb 1987s, and will need some time in the cellar to shed their generous amounts of tannin. The only vintage they can be favorably compared with is the 1985 vintage, and the 1985s were a great deal more forward and flattering to taste when young. There is more depth in the 1988s than in the 1986s or even the superb 1980s (which turned out to be the finest wines made in that underrated vintage).

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