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  • Country ranking ?

    328
  • Producer ranking ?

    47
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    2020-2035

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The Story

Richebourg is a king of a wine: the colonnade of the Louvre, the Château of Versailles. You are impressed by its finesse, its length and its delicate sensations, endlessly changing. The fact that no element dominates the others enables you to appreciate all of its aromas, on the nose and on the palate. In any given vintage, Richebourg is always one of the last wines to be drunk. Not because it is too aggressive when young; simply because it needs time to reveal its full complexity.

 

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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Vintage 2018

Burgundy 2018: An ideal vintage

The 2018 vintage was unanimously greeted with satisfaction from the north of Burgundy to the south. The exceptional weather, especially during the harvest period, made it possible to obtain grapes in perfect health, allowing harvesting for almost an entire month. The first tastings before the Hospices de Beaune wine auction gave a first idea that 2018 will be a truly great year.

The vines had accumulated some reserves over the winter thanks to very rainy weather, and the growth cycle started late. When the sun began to appear in April, the vines came to life, with very rapid buds. The mild weather then allowed the plants to make up for lost time, even ahead of the average. The April frosts shook the entire region, but the damage remained very limited. Flowering and fruit set took place without hindrance.

The summer was marked by constant heat and drought, with the exception of a few hailstorms in early July which had no major consequences. The vines continued to grow at a rapid pace until mid-August. Veraison took a little longer in places, with the heat and lack of water affecting some younger vineyards. Nevertheless, the water reserves having been replenished during the winter, most of the vines reached maturity thanks to the ideal climatic conditions.

The first grapes were picked in the last 10 days of August. Since flowering dates, precipitation and temperature varied greatly from one region to another, the harvest extended until the last 10 days of September.
The fruit was in very good health, and the weather was perfect, allowing each winemaker to harvest at the optimal time. The atmosphere was serene throughout the wine region, with producers appreciating this magnificent vintage combining quality and quantity. Many believe this will be one of the best vintages in many years.

The vinification of the whites took place without problems, the grapes having retained a good level of acidity despite the heat.
The reds required a little more attention during winemaking due to the relatively high potential alcohol level.

 

Red wines

The 2018 reds have an attractive intense color. They are already well structured and powerful, with well-integrated tannins and a good concentration of fruit. These exceptional wines are perfectly balanced, and already taste good in their early youth.
This is a delicious vintage with splendid maturity.

Crémant de Bourgogne

It is a benchmark year, with expressive aromas that vary from one grape variety to another, promising balanced and aromatic base wines. Pinot Noirs are generous, with notes of cherry and rose, resulting in balanced wines with pleasant freshness. Chardonnays are powerful, with moderate acidity, which makes them very round. The fruit aromas reveal exotic notes, nuanced by scents of apple and peach. Gamays have delicate aromas of raspberry and strawberry, highlighted by touches of citrus (clementine, lemon). The Aligotés are sharp and lemony, as usual, with a good length in the mouth.

 

White wines

In 2018, the aromatic complexity of white wines is incredible. They are explosive on the nose, with an astonishing diversity that reflects each terroir. The wines have a certain freshness and good minerality. On the palate, they are round and generous, balanced with a nice tension.

Regarding white Burgundy, 2018 was another atypical early harvest. Since 2000, there have been six vintages where some grapes were harvested in August, but 2018 might be the earliest. I don't know of any vintage other than this one where the grapes were harvested before August 24th. Often the determining factor for harvest date is early flowering due to a warm winter, sometimes intense heat (2003 for example), and sometimes it is a combination of both. Just because it’s very hot doesn’t mean it will be an early harvest. Vines will stop photosynthesis due to water stress if there is no rain and water tables are so low that they cannot absorb water from underground (the case for 2019 until here). In 2018 you have the combination of very warm temperatures in January and some periods of warm weather during the growing season but enough rain for the vines to ripen, which led to an exceptionally early harvest.

Depending on production levels, the growers who had large crops and harvested early did not obtain maximum ripeness and ending up chaptalizing. This was ridiculous because all they had to do was wait, but growers hate having to acidify and would rather harvest early and chaptalize. I do have an issue with growers trying to retain acidity and having to chaptalize, which is making their style, not the style of the vintage. This is a mistake. As evidenced by those who waited to harvest, just a few days of waiting caused the grapes to come in 1-2% higher in alcohol with more concentrated acids and sugars. These wines had the highest sugars along with super high yields. I have never tasted wines so rich with such high acid levels.

2018 will have many surprises and quality levels ranging from good to exceptional. During my visit in early June, I was amazed to taste all the wines, which were very forward due to the malolactic fermentations being finished. Many of the malolactic fermentations were finished not long after fermentation because there was very little malic acid. The abundance of tartaric acid will make for very lovely wines with great balance. Since there was only one rainstorm between August 24 and September 6, most of the growers had finished harvest in the Côte de Beaune. There were 23 mm (0.9 in) on September 6 and nothing more until September 23, which led to one of the most successful vintage in the Côte de Nuits since 2005.

Pricing is very stable with some tiny increases. However, most of the prices remained the same. The crop levels were huge, so bulk wine prices should be stable. Without any frost in 2017 and with good crop levels in 2018, prices should stay steady. The days of prices going up then down seem to be over as far as Burgundy is concerned.

Finally, to preview the red wines, with perfect conditions and since the growers waited until the beginning of September
to harvest, there are some incredible red wines in 2018. One way to gauge this quality is that the lower level Bourgogne Rouge wines are rich, full-bodied, super ripe, and powerful. This is going to be a joy to sell. There were some problems with overproduction, so some of the red wines will not have the power of others, and some growers who waited too long
to pick will have some crazy overly ripe and alcoholic wines. I heard that there were many wines that had trouble finishing fermentations once they surpassed 15%. I will be looking forward to tasting the red wines and seeing how they have turned out during my trip in November.

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Written Notes

The 2018 Richebourg Grand Cru boasts one of the most expressive aromatics from barrel, offering dark berries mixed with crushed limestone, pressed flowers and oyster shell, the fruit becoming more intense with aeration. The palate is extremely cohesive with unerring symmetry, filigreed tannins (perhaps more like a Romanée-Saint-Vivant) and immense depth endowed upon its arching, cathedral-like structure. This is a brilliant Richebourg in the making. 96-98

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Information

Origin

Vosne-Romanée, Burgundy

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

Romanée Conti

Romanee Saint Vivant

Vosne Romanée

Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault Blochet

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