Romanée-Conti 2016 is a Grand Cru red wine produced from a 1.81-hectare single vineyard in the Côte de Nuits region, made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
Vintage 2016 was a harsh one. After the most severe frost in a generation, hail and mildew followed, and the surviving grapes were harvested on September 25 at 24 hL/ha. Only 440 cases of the 2016 vintage were produced. In Burgundy, low yields lead to strict selection of the fruit and a concentrated flavor.
Whole-cluster fermentation, in which the entire grape cluster, stems and all, is placed in a vat, is the house method here, followed by 18 months of aging in new French oak barrels. This combination imparts a solid structure without compromising the delicate aromas for which the vineyard is well-known.
DRC cultivates vineyards in amongst others Vosne-Romanée and a small number of Grand Cru plots in neighboring municipalities, including the Romanée-Conti monopole (a vineyard wholly owned by a single estate).
It is best enjoyed between 2026 and 2075.
Robert Parker (100)
The 2016 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru is a worthy successor to the profound 2015, wafting from the glass with aromas of wild berries, violets, peony, dark chocolate, cinnamon and exotic spices. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and satiny, with an ineffable sense of completeness, searing concentration without weight, a vibrant, indeed animating line of acidity, and a long, expansive finish that concludes with a judicious touch of mouthwatering bitterness. Wines like this are the foundation of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's reputation.
Jancis Robinson (19.5)
Lightish ruby. Darker fruited than the Richebourg, but still red fruited. There’s a refined restraint at first then a seductive perfume starting to show at the heart of the aroma. The whole-bunch woodland freshness just lifts the wine and accentuates its soaring fragrance as it opens up. The palate almost surprises in its power and intensity, peppery and gently spiced but also that darker and more rocky/mineral dry texture and finish. So fresh, chewy in the most refined way possible. As it opens, the spice and the dustiness combine and is perfectly in harmony with the fruit and structure. Dark, almost savoury finish. Goes on forever.
Vinous (98)
The 2016 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru was picked on September 25 at 24hL/ha. As usual, I allowed it five or six minutes to open in the glass. It is a very subtle Romanée-Conti, more discreet than the 2016 La Tâche, but then you become entranced by its spellbinding purity and grace. It gradually builds aromatically, augmenting the black fruit with red, and developing scents of wild hedgerow and freshly tilled soil - almost a pastoral element. The palate is medium-bodied with extremely precise and fine tannin and notes of wild strawberry, cranberry and crushed limestone. This feels very harmonious, the texture silkier than the La Tâche, displaying just a touch of bay leaf and black pepper toward the sustained finish, which gains depth and grip with aeration. Exquisite, though I suspect the La Tâche will challenge it for supremacy. 440 cases produced. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in-bottle tasting in London.
Jasper Morris (100)
The colour has the exceptional depth and intensity that we would expect. This is followed by a quite glorious nose, for which it is very hard to find the words, a noblesse of ripe peonies perhaps. “The Romanée-Conti is more mouth than nose this year” says Aubert de Villaine who requests that you do not spit this wine so as to understand its extraordinary texture. Which it most certainly has, the definition of luxury at the highest level because of the sumptuous texture, but still with endless little pinpoints of fine detail. Not exclusively black fruit here either, but it would be presumptuous to try to put inadequate descriptors alongside this marvellous wine.
