x
  • Country ranking ?

    294
  • Producer ranking ?

    40
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    Roast lamb served medium-rare

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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Very rich and complete' - Romanee Conti 1971 could bring £75,000 at Christie's

Today, June 10, Christie's is holding a sale of Finest and Rarest Wines. The auction house notes that an exceptional collection of rare Burgundy provides many of the best lots in the sale.

Amongst the 787 lots, there are a number of wines to excite any wine lover, collector or investor. For a start, there are two twelve bottle lots of Château Pétrus 1982 on of...

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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 mos...

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Wine Information

Not only the most iconic domaine in Burgundy, but also possibly in France and even in the world. With a monopoly of the two greatest vineyards - Romanée-Conti and La Tâche - and with a generous handful of some others within Vosne-Romanée and beyond, it secured its revered position all while being completely discreet and even modest. It is co-owned by the Villaine and Leroy-Roch families, with Aubert de Villaine guiding the ship since 1974. But...

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Average Bottle Price

2017 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000 1995 1565
15 909€ +33.9% 11 879€ +25.9% 9 432€ +2.2% 9 225€ +2.4% 9 008€ -3.4% 9 327€ +21.3% 7 690€ +93.2% 3 980€ +50.5% 2 644€ +186.8% 922€ -54.3% 2 019€

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

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Written Notes

Now those of you that have been reading my notes for years, you know that I don’t give out 100 points. I believe in the pursuit of perfection, but not perfection itself. So, 99+ is as high as I have ever given, and only to a handful of wines, one of which is above. However, one night in February in New York City made me think a bit differently about things, and it took four wines to combine together into a rising Phoenix of a 100-point experience, and the four wines were all DRC Romanee Conti, of course. First a bit of context. It was the week before our gala, and there were conflicting events popping up all over. I was at Per Se with Comte Liger-Belair, doing a historical retrospective of every vintage of Aux Reignots, ever, which normally would be enough of a great wine night on its own. But Big Boy was also holding Romanee Conti court at his home, back to 1937, on the same night. The Comte and I arrived late, but quickly caught up, because thankfully Sir Robert and Dapper Dave were saving us some sips. There were numerous afterthoughts like 1990, 1999 and 2002, because four mature vintages of RC hit the bellissimo bullseye, three of which were 99-point wines: 1937, 1952, and 1971, combined with the aforementioned 98+ points, the 1980. One could split hairs that the 1937 was 98 points, but at that point and that age and that circumstance, it just got that baby bump. Of course, the younger vintages were still alpha alphas, but when you have great old bottles next to the same great young wines, it is very hard for youth to prevail. I didn’t take thorough notes as it was late, and I was catching up, but I stayed until about two in the morning, sampling and sipping my way through numerous other RCs (a great magnum of 1970 was another standout), along with a trio of DRC Montrachets amongst others. To give a great tasting note of the ultimate mature RC experience, I will share with you a wine that I was going to include in this article, a note from a magnum of 1971 RC that I then realized I had in December 2019, previously mentioned in my misplaced 1990 Chave Cathelin note above: A magnum of 1971 DRC Romanee Conti came next. That’s right. In fact, this magnum was purchased at our November Hong Kong auction the month prior. The magnum was in outstanding condition, and it had outstanding provenance, so I was feeling no pressure. After one sip, I was feeling no pain. Its nose was full of that autumnal rust and spice. There were tomato, rose, bouillon and menthol aromas filling my nose to capacity. The Winemaster found the 1971 ‘more elegant than 1978’ in general, and I was in love with its great, fully mature flavors. There were brick, rust and autumn flavors here. While its palate was elegant, its finish was thick. It got more minty and (good) herbal on its finish, with almost a kiss of Chartreuse-like complexity. What a wine (99M).

  • 99p
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Information

Origin

Vosne-Romanée, Burgundy

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Poor

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

None

Glass time

1h

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

One of the highlights of the evening, the 1971 Romanée-Conti is all about silkiness, texture and persistence. For many tasters, the 1971 is the wine of the flight.  I find the aromatics slightly lacking in focus, but otherwise, the 1971 is magnificent. In any other tasting it would easily steal the show, but then the 1961 arrives. Still, the 1971 is unquestionably beautiful and peaking today. 96

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