Domaine de la Romanée Conti is co-owned by the de Villaine and Leroy/Roch families, the former successors to Jacques-Marie Duvault Blochet who bought the vineyard of La Romanée Conti in 1869, the latter since acquiring the shares of other descendants of Duvault-Blochet in 1942. The Domaine is today run by Aubert de Villaine and Henri-Frederic Roch. Many people in Burgundy just refer to ‘DRC’ as “the Domaine”.
The domaine has 30 hectares of vineyards, all Grand Crus. As well as the the 1.8 hectare monopole La Romanée Conti, the Domaine purchased its other monopoly, La Tâche, in 1933, along with significant holdings in the grand crus of Richebourg, Romanée St Vivant, Grands-Echezeaux, Echezeaux, and Le Montrachet at various points in the 19th and 20th centuries. Corton was added in 2009 with Corton-Charlemagne to be released in 2018. The Domaine is the largest owners of each of the red wine grand crus.
92 Points Allen Meadows
Explosive fruit of blackberries, vanilla and oriental spice with extremely ripe, relatively supple black fruit, round, sexy flavors underpinned by good structure, ripe tannins and fine acid/fruit balance. This is still very tight but there is good vigor, indeed even force behind this wine. One of the better DRC Echézeaux in a long time, in fact as good as the terrific ’88 though stylistically different.
92 Points Robert Parker Wine Advocate
I was intrigued to see how the 1999 Echezeaux would be performing at 14 years of age since I have not tasted it since just after bottling. It has a very classy nose of dark cherry fruit, quite exotic for one of Aubert de Villaine’s wines, with hints of blood orange and even peach skin infusing the opulent aromatic profile. The palate is well-balanced and tightly knit, though it is clear that the RSV 1999 alongside was born with a higher level of delineation and clarity. Still, you have to admire the brio and hubris of this Echezeaux, and its youthful zeal suggests it will age over three decades without too much sweat. Delicious.