2006 DRC Romanee Conti

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 22/12/2009 An extraordinary as well as extraordinarily intense aromatic display greets you from the glass of 2006 Romanee-Conti. Rose petals, griotte cherries, almond extract, mint, and cinnamon once again put me in mind of archetypal pinot with a soupcon of Gewurztraminer. The remarkable perfume and spice continue inner-mouth, allied to a silken textural refinement (as if the tannins were self-dissolving); to pure, fresh, but not at all superficially sweet cherry and raspberry essence; and to deep, marrowy meatiness and hints of truffle and forest floor. This pivots at midpoint, as it were – though far more subtly than does its Richebourg sibling – from perfume and fruit to almost sinister animal and mineral suggestions. The finish here is at once positively ethereal and deeply, darkly mysterious, like lingering harmony at the extremes of audibility. I suspect it will also outlive the other wines from this estate and vintage. The Domaine de La Romanee-Conti harvested from the 20th-25th of September (commencing with Richebourg) and subjected the crop to rigorous sorting. Understandably, the viticultural meticulousness at this estate as well as its team of some 60 highly-skilled and –motivated pickers paid dividends in the context of a challenging vintage. Director Aubert de Villaine and cellarmaster Bernard Noblet vinified their 2006s with a lesser share of stems and whole clusters, and exposed them to new wood for a shorter period (thereafter racking into older barrels) than the corresponding 2005s. ()

Here too is a very reserved yet ultra classy and refined, indeed even ethereal nose that is quite simply kaleidoscopic in its breadth, combining red, blue and black fruits with spice, earth, minerality and a hint of underbrush that stands aside for the perfectly balanced, pure and stylish medium full flavors that are very firmly but not aggressively structured while delivering flat out unbelievable length yet all the while remaining completely understated in personality. As are all the very best vintages of RC, this is spherical with nothing out of place and this will age effortlessly for decades. The La Tâche is truly spectacular but there is simply another dimension of depth present here. A wine of sheer class and the epitome of the phrase 'power without weight'.