Domaine de la Romanée–Conti 2017 Vintage release

DOMAINE DE LA ROMANÉE-CONTI 2017 VINTAGE EN PRIMEUR EXCLUSIVE TO CORNEY & BARROW IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Dinner of the Prince de Conti at the Temple, 1766. Artist: Michel BarthĂŠlemy Ollivier (1712-1784)

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“2017 has indeed produced a superb harvest both in quantity and quality, which we have not seen for some time..”

AUBERT DE VILLAINE 1ST OCTOBER 2017

INTRODUCTION A good smoke…

This is the first truly generous vintage since 2009, a long wait for a legendary estate. Nor is its beauty limited by this generosity – rather has the Domaine taken the stamp of the vintage – its energy, refinement, charm, juiciness and put it into a more classical interpretation of intricate structure, insinuating power and sublime length. In the best sense, these 2017s are apart.

The vintage was marked by three significant events, two of which were born of the caprice of nature, the third rather more human. The first occurred in April after a usefully cold and frosty winter. It was a glorious month, warm and very dry, prompting an early budburst and with the vineyards showing leaf by the end of the first week. With this nascent crop at its most vulnerable and with a terrifying similarity to the savagely reduced 2016 vintage, frost threatened between April 27th and 29th. For those three days the Domaine (and most of the villages in Burgundy) burnt straw in the front of the vineyards to create a cloud of smoke to protect the vines from the brilliant sun rays that might otherwise, by process of magnification, have burnt the iced shoots.

A good smoke indeed…

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6

Perrine Fenal (co-director) and Aubert de Villaine (co-director)

The second, and rather more benevolent, factor in the story of the vintage, was a wonderfully early and fast flowering over three days at the end of May in quite lovely weather. A generous harvest was therefore promised, and an early one.

June was extremely warm, reaching a searing 39°C (102.2°F) on the 21st and whilst some berries were burnt, the majority grew thicker skins which were to make the grapes resistant during the stormier, wetter conditions of later June and July which inevitably brought with them the risk of oidium and mildew. Chef de Culture (Vineyard Manager) Nicolas Jacob did a brilliant job at this time, not least in dealing with a leaf canopy that grew at a furious pace, with some vine shoots growing 10cm in a single day.

With perfect timing August was dry and warm, with sugar contents so promising at the end of month that a harvest

would have been quite feasible. But the Domaine elected to wait for perfect phenolic ripeness – so important to the perfume and flavour of the wine – which was slow to arrive because the soils were too dry. Again, with impeccable timing rain arrived at the very end of the month to allow for perfect ripening.

Harvesting began in the Côte de Beaune with Corton on the 4th September and then in the Côte de Nuits in Vosne-Romanée with La Tâche (6th and 7th), RomanéeConti on the morning of the 8th and Richebourg in the afternoon. It rained on the morning of the 9th so harvesting was resumed with the remainder of the Richebourg on the 10th, Romanée-St-Vivant on the 10th and 11th, Grands Échézeaux on the 12th and Échézeaux on the 13th and 15th. The tiny Montrachet vineyard was brought in on September 7th.

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Nicolas Jacob (Chef de Culture)

Alexandre Bernier (Chef de Cave)

“On this first Sunday of October, the weather is turning cooler. The summer is beginning to make way for the wilderness of autumn. The vineyards seem relieved to have released their fruit to the harvesters.

Peace is reigning and we have the strong impression of a birth whose celebration is everywhere: in the calm and in the lightness of the atmosphere, in the beauty of the landscape and above all in the warm light coming from the vineyards and changing from gold to light brown then to gold and vice-versa. The leaves take their time to fall to the ground. The great painter of the Burgundian autumn is at work in the heart of a luminous and even luxurious season that is the consequence of an early harvest.�

AUBERT DE VILLAINE OCTOBER 2017

Nicolas Jacob was to remember the harvest as an easy one with little sorting required on the tables other than the desiccated berries that had been burnt by the June sun.

Yields were as generous (see page 19) as low–productive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with high average ages can be – that is to say adequate! After years of low or even no volume, this is a transient joy.

The third and final event was the retirement, after 39 years, of Maitre de Chai (Cellar Master) Bernard Noblet who arrived in 1978 and who was appointed Cellar Master in 1986. A Paulée was celebrated on the 16th September which included wines from the year of his birth… 1957. It was fitting that he should end his illustrious career with such a lovely vintage.

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With his successor Alexandre Bernier (who has worked alongside Bernard these last eight years) it was elected to go for minimum de-stemming (none for RomanéeConti). Pre-maceration, the colours were deepest red with lively pink foam visible once primary fermentations began – usually a sign of a rich and generous vintage.

The wines were then put to cask for the long secondary fermentations with final bottling in the spring of 2019.

The tasting notes are taken from two cask tastings and a final tasting from bottle in November 2019. To help you with your order we set out once again, an allocation process, so much of which was prompted and supported by our customers.

Thank you for your patience as we try and allocate as fairly as possible.

ADAM BRETT-SMITH January 2020

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Aubert de Villaine and Adam Brett-Smith

VOSNE-ROMANÉE

Chambolle-Musigny N Dijon

N74

Les Grands Échézeaux

Vougeot

Échézeaux

Flagey-Echézeaux

10

Les Richebourgs

La Romanée

Romanée Saint-Vivant

La RomanéeConti

La Grande Rue

La Tâche

Vosne-Romanée

Nuits-St-Georges

Beanne

Grands Crus du Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

N74

CORTON

N

En Charlemagne

D115d

Le Charlemagne

Bois de Corton

Les Pougets

11

Le Corton

Les Languettes

ALOXE-CORTON Les Perrières Le Clos du Roi

Les Renardes Le Rognet-Corton

Les Bressandes

Les Meix Les Fournières

Les Chaillots

Les Valozières Les Caillettes

Les Bruyères

D115d

Les Morais

Les Marèchaudes

Les Lolieres

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THE ALLOCATION PROCESS We always aim to make our allocation process utterly transparent and fair. This is necessarily painstaking as each order is dealt with in minute detail – as it should be.

We ask for your patience as we do this and, once again, thought it would be useful to set out the Domaine’s and, by extension, Corney & Barrow’s allocation criteria.

• The Domaine’s focus is on the private customer and as a consumer rather than a speculator.

• The Domaine’s wines are bought on the clear understanding that they will be stored and delivered in the UK only. Should you wish to sell the wine in the future, do please offer Corney & Barrow first refusal as this will ensure the integrity of secondary market distribution.

• Should customers wish to sell their allocation (or part of it) within two years of initial release, it can be fairly assumed that the wines were bought with speculation in mind rather than future drinking.

This may impact the level of future allocations to those customers.

• Priority will be given to the Domaine’s and Corney & Barrow’s longstanding and best customers.

• We will do our best to accommodate newer customers. To help

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in this, we have a range of older vintages in stock to help begin a collection.

• May we please have your order by 17th February 2020.

• Allocations will be completed by 27th February 2020.

• Confirmation of order will be through receipt of invoice and the wines will be delivered or put into your reserve upon payment and once the wines have arrived in the UK. All orders are conditional upon UK storage only. We keep for the Domaine’s benefit a record of bottle numberings to help you in this.

• May we please request that invoices are paid in full by 27th March 2020. In all fairness, we reserve the right to reallocate your order to other customers on the waiting list if payment is not received by this time.

• Do please speak to our sales team, who will be delighted to help you further.

Provenance Once again we continue to bang the drum on provenance and I can do no better than quote the Domaine’s own words: “We would like to take this opportunity to insist on something important that concerns all wine lovers – trade or private customers – it is imperative that, without absolute certainty as to the authenticity and origin of the bottles they are offered, they buy wines only through our official distributor or from the merchant and wine shop that the distributor has appointed. This is the only way to secure the guarantee of integrity, authenticity and proper storage of our wines!” Enough said!

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Tasting Guide Our tasting notes provide full details but, at your request, we have also introduced a clear and simple marking system. We hope these guidelines assist you in your selection. For the benefit of simplicity, wines are scored out of 20. We will often use a range of scores (e.g. 16.5 to 17) to indicate the potential to achieve a higher mark. When a ‘+’ is shown it adds further to that potential. Wines from lesser vintages will, inevitably, show a lower overall score.

Wines are judged, in a very broad sense, against their peers. Why? Well, you cannot easily compare a Ford with an Aston Martin, other than they are both cars and have wheels. It is not that different with wine. A score is a summary only. The devil is in the detail, so please focus on the tasting notes and, as always, speak to our sales team.

TASTING NOTES

CORTON 2017

GRANDS ÉCHÉZEAUX

It seems like only yesterday that the Domaine acquired from the Prince du Mérode family an extended lease on perhaps the finest Pinot Noir vineyards on the hill of Corton – Le Clos du Roi (0.57 hectares), Les Bressandes (1.2 hectares) and Les Renardes (0.5 hectares) and this is actually the 9th vintage made since that acquisition and the Domaine is well and truly in its stride.

Slightly firmer ruby colour than the Échézeaux. The wine is less showy, but perhaps more complete. The nose is darker with inky black-red fruit perfume, earthy and mineral. The palate is juicily fresh at first but with a firm core of concentration, a darker power than Échézeaux and an excellent balance of fresh fruit and structure that will reward the patient. The lack of showiness is deceptive, the “Reverse of the Slope”* quality is very evident as it were.

Firm, ruby colour. The nose is beautiful, mineral rich, very pure with cool, stony black and red fruits. By contrast the palate is silken at first, with a firm, lithe weight but with, in the best sense a disciplined, upright structure, fine concentration and tellingly, a delectable poised sweetness on this finish, that promises rather well for the future.

Corney & Barrow Score 17 - 17.5 Recommended drinking from 2028 - 2038

*military tactic used to conceal strength of a resource behind a hill or slope

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5 - 18 Recommended drinking from 2030 - 2035+ £1635/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £1100/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK

£900/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £610/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK

ÉCHÉZEAUX

RICHEBOURG

It will be remembered that no Échézeaux or Grands Échézeaux were offered from the 2016 vintage. So pathetic was this yield, 6 and 7 hl/ha respectively, that the Domaine decided to bottle them only in magnums to be released at a later date. It is wonderful to be able to offer this 2017 however which, for different reasons to last year, appears to have poured its heart into this vintage. It was the last to be harvested (on 13th and 15th September).

I always feel that Richebourg, particularly in youth, is instantly recognisable for its richness and flamboyance, its masculinity, even its seriousness.

Here is indeed d'Artagnan of the three (four) musketeers with its firm, ruby colour and almost showy creamy, toffeed, flamboyantly spicy fruit – very Échézeaux. The palate is interestingly quite mineral, very flavoury with fine tannins, a chewy fresh concentration and a finish I described as “alive”. This Échézeaux dances well.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5+ Recommended drinking from 2029 - 2035+ £1110/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £750/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK

If so then this “Porthos” of the family has clearly been on a régime in 2017. There is a slightly raw edge to the rich fruit in this Richebourg, an ascetic austerity (in the non-pejorative sense) to the nose which is also spicily perfumed, but without the velvet slashes of flamboyance.

The palate is firmly structured, this is a very serious Richebourg, it is trying to say, with glimpses only of this sweet richness underneath. It is a wine of dark freshness and tightly wound concentration. The key is in the length, which is profound. My score may be conservative.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5+ Recommended drinking from 2031 - 2037+ £2550/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £1710/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK

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ROMANÉE-ST-VIVANT

ROMANÉE-CONTI

Last year I suggested that this frequently enigmatic Cru was quite planted and earthbound. In 2017, which to me is a terrestrial rather than atmospheric vintage, Romanée-St-Vivant slips subtly back into the more intricate, delicate strength that shadows RomanéeConti itself which secretly, secretly it yearns to be…

Fancy aside, this is a beautiful Romanée-St-Vivant, slightly paler in colour than Grands Échézeaux but with a nose that tugs so delicately but insistently on the senses with a lacy, super fine red fruit, almost creamy, and sweetly ripe. The palate is perfectly, beautifully extracted, firm in structure, but so super fine that its concentration is deceptive with the red fruit of the nose giving way to a darker, blacker fruit on the finish. A lovely Romanée-St-Vivant.

Intriguingly, this great vineyard was one of the first to be harvested – on the morning of the 8th September, just before the rain on the 9th. “So wise” I scribbled in the margin but I cannot remember whether I was referring to the harvest date or the style of the wine. Probably both. Firm, limpid ruby colour. The nose is serenely beautiful, that calm quality it shares with La Tâche but with a purity and delicacy of perfume, of rose, of spice, of old, old black and red fruits that is quite lovely. “Fresh and old” was another scribble. The palate is in pure balance, with subtly layered flavours, silken but with the lightest filigree hallmark of 2017 – that mineral astute kick in the finish. Beautiful wine.

Corney & Barrow Score 17.5 - 18 Recommended drinking from 2029 - 2036+

Corney & Barrow Score 18 - 18.5 Recommended drinking from 2030 - 2040+ £9000/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £3000/Case of 1 bottle, in bond UK

£2760/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £1850/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK

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LA TÂCHE

MONTRACHET

There is a noble calm in this wine that defers courteously to the stamp of the vintage before finessing it completely, more completely at this stage than Romanée-Conti itself.

Lovely limpid ruby colour. The nose possesses a relaxed but subliminal flamboyance, with supple, creamy, rich, spicy red fruits. The palate is powerfully, richly flavoured with powder dry but super fine tannins, a density and freshness of concentration, a sense of cloaked power and beautiful length. And a rather beautiful wine.

If I ever detected a subtle lightening of the style of this profound wine – a tickle in 2013 a positive scratch in 2014 – then 2017 marks a glorious return to the lush uplands.

As if in rejoicing at its return after the ravages of 2016 (in which no wine was made at the Domaine) the 2017 has that textbook yellow, green colour and a glorious golden and white peach, creamy, almost tropical perfume on the palate. The palate is infinitely graceful, supple and sensuous, layered in its richness and then effortlessly lifted by a mineral kick of acidity on the finish. Perfection.

Corney & Barrow Score 18 - 18.5 Recommended drinking from 2031 - 2040+ £2910/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK £970/Case of 1 bottle, in bond UK £1950/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK

Corney & Barrow Score 18 - 19 Recommended drinking from 2022 - 2032 £1900/Case of 1 bottle, in bond UK

THE 2017 VINTAGE IN NUMBERS AVERAGE AGE OF VINES (YEARS)

TOTAL PRODUCTION (DOZ)

YIELD (HECTOLITRES PER HECTARE)

HARVEST DATES

BOTTLING DATES

Corton

55

652

33 hl/ha

4th September 2017

23rd January 2019

Échézeaux

35

1,289

30 hl/ha

13th & 15th September 2017

24th, 28th, 29th, 31th January & 20th February 2019

Grands Échézeaux

30

1,290

41 hl/ha

12th September 2017

From 21st to 23rd May 2019

Richebourg

60

1,261

37 hl/ha

8th & 10th September 2017

20th, 21st, 25th, 26th February & 25th March 2019

Romanée-St-Vivant

45

1,693

36 hl/ha

10th & 11th September 2017

26th, 29th & 30th April & 2nd & 21st May 2019

La Tâche

50

2,082

34 hl/ha

6th & 7th September 2017

From 25th to 28th March & 23rd to 24th April 2019

Romanée-Conti

60

627

35 hl/ha

8th September 2017

From 25th to 26th April 2019

Le Montrachet

60+

224

30 hl/ha

7th September 2017

3rd December 2018

Tasting Guide Our tasting notes provide full details but, at your request, we have also introduced a clear and simple marking system. We hope these guidelines assist you in your selection. For the benefit of simplicity, wines are scored out of 20. We will often use a range of scores (e.g. 16.5 to 17) to indicate the potential to achieve a higher mark. When a ‘+’ is shown it adds further to that potential. Wines from lesser vintages will, inevitably, show a lower overall score.

Wines are judged, in a very broad sense, against their peers. Why? Well, you cannot easily compare a Ford with an Aston Martin, other than they are both cars and have wheels. It is not that different with wine. A score is a summary only. The devil is in the detail, so please focus on the tasting notes and, as always, speak to our sales team.

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RECOMMENDED DRINKING DATES We are regularly asked for more specific drinking dates for Burgundies, in particular from the great domaines.

20

REVISED DRINKING DATES

Vosne–Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault Blochet

Échézeaux

Grands Échézeaux

1995

N/A

Now

Now

1996

N/A

Now

Now

1997

N/A

Now

Now

1998

N/A

Now

Now-2020+

1999

Now

Now

Now-2020+

2000

N/A

Now

Now

2001

N/A

Now-2020+

Now-2021+

2002

Now

Now-2020+

Now-2022+

2003

N/A

Now

Now

2004

N/A

See below

See below

2005

N/A

See below

See below

2006

Now-2022

Now

Now-2020+

2007

N/A

Now-2020

See below

2008

As below

See below

See below

2009

As below

See below

See below

2010

N/A

See below

See below

2011

N/A

See below

See below

2012

N/A

See below

See below

2013

N/A

See below

See below

2014

N/A

See below

See below

2015

N/A

See below

See below

2016

N/A

See below

See below

ORIGINAL DRINKING DATES

Vosne–Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault Blochet

Échézeaux

Grands Échézeaux

1995

N/A

From 2003

From 2005

1996

N/A

From 1999

From 2000

1997

N/A

From 2002

From 2003

1998

N/A

From 2004

From 2005

1999

From 2003

From 2006

From 2008

2000

N/A

From 2004

From 2006

2001

N/A

From 2005

From 2006

2002

From 2006

From 2008

From 2009

2003

N/A

From 2008

From 2009

2004

N/A

From 2013

From 2015

2005

N/A

From 2015

From 2020

2006

From 2010-2015

From 2011

From 2012

2007

N/A

From 2012

From 2015

2008

From 2015-2020

From 2016

From 2018-2025+

2009

From 2015-2020

From 2018-2025+

From 2020-2030

2010

N/A

From 2019-2025+

From 2021-2030+

2011

N/A

From 2018-2024

From 2020-2028

2012

N/A

From 2020-2025

From 2020-2030+

2013

N/A

From 2019-2025+

From 2021-2030

2014

N/A

From 2020-2030

From 2022-2030+

2015

N/A

From 2022-2030+

From 2024-2035

2016

N/A

From 2028-2035+

From 2030-2040+

Here therefore, are specific recommendations of drinking dates for every recent vintage. Of course taste is an extremely personal thing but having tasted and analysed these wines extensively over the last few years, we absolutely believe that opening these wines at the dates indicated will ensure maximum enjoyment. For your interest and reference we have included our original recommendations made at the launch of the new vintages below.

Richebourg

Romanée–St–Vivant

La Tâche

Romanée–Conti

Le Montrachet

Now

Now

Now

Now-2025+

Now

Now

Now

Now-2021+

Now-2025+

Now

Now

Now

Now

Now-2024

Now

Now-2022+

Now-2023+

2012-2022+

2015-2030+

Now

Now-2022+

Now-2023+

2012-2024+

2015-2030+

Now

Now

Now

Now-2023+

Now-2027+

Now

Now-2022+

Now-2023+

Now-2023+

Now-2029+

Now

Now-2023+

Now-2023+

2012-2023+

2015-2028+

Now

Now

Now

Now-2023+

Now-2025+

Now

See below

See below

See below

See below

Now

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

See below

Richebourg

Romanée–St–Vivant

La Tâche

Romanée–Conti

Le Montrachet

From 2006

From 2005

From 2006

From 2008

From 2007

From 2003

From 2001

From 2004

From 2006

From 2004

From 2005

From 2005

From 2005

From 2007

From 2004

From 2006

From 2005

From 2008

From 2008

From 2003

From 2010

From 2009

From 2012

From 2015

From 2006

From 2009

From 2007

From 2009

From 2009

From 2007

From 2007

From 2007

From 2008

From 2010

From 2008

From 2009

From 2009

From 2012

From 2015

From 2010

From 2011

From 2010

From 2011

From 2012

From 2009

From 2017

From 2016

From 2018

From 2020

From 2012

From 2020

From 2020

From 2020

From 2025

From 2014

From 2015

From 2013

From 2016-2022

From 2017-2025

From 2015

From 2016-2021

From 2016

From 2017-2022

From 2020-2025

From 2012

From 2016-2021

From 2017-2022

From 2018-2026+

From 2020-2030

From 2018

From 2022-2030

From 2020-2028

From 2025-2035

From 2025-2035

From 2015-2025

From 2023-2030+

From 2022-2029+

From 2025-2035

From 2026-2035+

From 2016-2025+

From 2022-2030

From 2021-2020

From 2020-2030

From 2025-2035

From 2017-2022

From 2025-2032+

From 2025-2032+

From 2026-2035+

From 2027-2035+

From 2017-2025+

From 2022-2032

From 2020-2030

From 2023-2030+

From 2024-2034+

From 2019-2025

From 2023-2033+

From 2021-2031+

From 2025-2035+

From 2025-2037+

From 2019-2029

From 2025-2035+

From 2023-2030+

From 2027-2035+

From 2030-2040+

From 2020-2035+

From 2029-2040+

From 2028-2035+

From 2030-2040+

From 2030-2040+

N/A

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CONTACT US

LONDON 1 Thomas More Street London E1W 1YZ T +44 (0)20 7265 2400 sales@corneyandbarrow.com

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