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Romanée Conti 1985

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Burgundy, France

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
Burgundy France
  • 99
    Points
  • The 333 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 14 Pros of
    14 recommend
    this wine
650 99
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    286

  • Producer ranking ?

    38

  • Decanting time

    2h

  • When to drink

    now to 2035

  • Food Pairing

    Enjoy without food

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 mos...

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Wine Information

The December 8/2012 Fine and Rare Wines auction at Bonhams in San Francisco, simulcast in New York and Los Angeles, brought a successful result of $1.35 million. The top lot of the auction was an assortment case of 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which sold for $41,650, at the high-end of its $35,000-$42,000 pre-sale estimate.

The leading lot and many other strong sales of the auction came from the impressive cellar of a Southern Californ...

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Vintage 1985

1985 Burgundy by Clive Coates MW / The 1985 vintage represents a turning point in the wine history of Burgundy. Before this date, on the whole, winegrowers made wine, merchants bought it, assembled several plots, if necessary, and sold it. Subsequently, more and more estates began to mature, bottle and market the wines themselves. In the meantime, many merchants had taken the opportunity to expand their own estates, so that, particularly at th...

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Average Bottle Price

2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000 1995
13 554€ +13.1% 11 985€ +18.8% 10 089€ -0.6% 10 154€ -0.7% 10 230€ +35.2% 7 566€ +40.1% 5 400€ +176.2% 1 955€ +109.5% 933€

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

Full

ending

Long, Smooth and Gentle

flavors

Blackberry, Voluptuous, Toasty and New-oak

nose

Refined

recommend

Yes

taste

Balanced, Harmonious, Ripe and Fresh

Written Notes

The 1985 DRC Romanee Conti had a tough act to follow.  This was a typical showing for many 1985 DRCs, showing that dirty birdie side, a bit of shit if you will.  It was earthy with tootsie pop flavors, and there was a meaty, horsey, animal quality to the palate.  The finish was still zippy and lifted with its leather, but it couldn’t shake the dirt or the tootsie (94).

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  • 94p

My only 100 point red wine was this masterpiece in Jeroboam with my friend Philip Ng in Singapore a few years ago. In regular bottle perhaps just a tiny bit less unreal but still the most perfect beautiful red wine there is.

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  • 100p
After one of the coldest January in the history of Burgundy was followed by snowy February. These circumstances ensured the dormancy of the vines further over the spring helping them to avoid the early budding risks of spring frosts. Although flowering was delayed, summer showed up very normal and the growth cycle got started well. One could say that August really made the vintage. Heatwave with constant sunshine and drought concentrated and ripen the grapes extensively and the harvest was able to begin on Romanée-Conti in 1st of September already. Excellent bottle. Decanted three hours. Lovely glowing, light garnet colour. On the nose sound and open aromas of violet, cinnamon and blackberry with toasty, smoky new oak. Has at least 1000 layers of graceful yet superripe fruit, which made harmonious interaction of already quite soft tannin and fresh acidity. Excessive weight, and extends in the mouth. There's remarkable balance between all the elements, followed by one of the longest sweet, silky finish we have ever tasted. This huge and unforgettable Romanée-Conti is already very drinkable, and will easily last through 2030 given suitable cellar conditions.
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  • 100p

(Wilson Daniels slip label.) Very light crimson. Ferns and forest notes. Sweet, transparent, so readable and lively with this finish of broad peacock’s tail fan of flavours. Hint of vegetation and very flirtatious. So long, yet delicate! I loved this particular bottle of this wine (more developed than the one tasted in Romanée Conti v La Tâche), though it’s not the BIG style that some might expect.

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  • 98p

The Romanee-Conti is utterly mind blowing. The heady, intoxicating bouquet delivered penetrating and sublime aromas that were even more intense than those from the La Tache. On the palate, there is a veritable smorgasbord of earthly and heavenly delights. Needless to say, it is very rich, very opulent, and very concentrated. Red Burgundy and red wine do not get any better than this. 

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  • 100p
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Information

Origin

Vosne-Romanée, Burgundy

Grapes

100% Pinot Noir

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Investment potential

Very Good

Fake factory

Be Cautious

Glass time

1h

Drinking temperature

18

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

The Domaine, as it is known, is iconic. Much more important, it also produces the most extraordinary wines in Burgundy - and it has been doing so for a long time. The generations responsible for the Domaine change, but the terroir remains. And these are very special vineyard parcels indeed, married to meticulous care and philosophy leading to low yields and healthy, ripe grapes, at whatever cost. From the 1990s, vineyard policy has been organic, with co-owner Aubert de Villaine monitoring everything with his usual attention to detail. Domaine de la Romanee-Conti wines evolve and develop dimensions in a way that resembles a mosaic - points of bouquet and flavour making up a harmonious whole that becomes more beautiful as it unfolds in the glass. Yes, these are hedonistic wines and yes, they are not like any other. The trick is in capturing what these remarkable plots of vines can give and letting them express themselves through minimum intervention and enlightened nurturing. Serena Sutcliffe, MW

 

Burgundy Book 
Jan 1990		 Robert M. Parker, Jr. 100 Drink: 1990 - 2005 $18500
The Romanee-Conti is utterly mind blowing. The heady, intoxicating bouquet delivered penetrating and sublime aromas that were even more intense than those from the La Tache. On the palate, there is a veritable smorgasbord of earthly and heavenly delights. Needless to say, it is very rich, very opulent, and very concentrated. Red burgundy and red wine do not get any better than this. My guess is that it will peak between 1990 and 2005, as it is a bit more forward than either the La Tache or Richebourg.

This fabled estate has had a brilliant track record since 1978. Lalou Bize-Leroy and Aubert de Villaine seem to have everything tightly within their grasps, so it is unlikely that some of the lapses in quality control that occurred previously will resurface. I am sure they still cannot understand why their estate is so frequently singled out for malicious attacks, but no one should have any trouble appreciating the domaine's 1985s, which are their best wines in decades, even surpassing their sensational 1978s. The problem is coming up with the cash to finance them. The wines, aged in 100% new oak, are never filtered.
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