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.
95 Points Allen Meadows
yields of only 6 hl/ha. This is both riper and spicier yet the dark cherry aromas are quite cool, indeed even airy with hints of Asian-style tea, sandalwood and earth lurking in the background. There is terrific intensity to the concentrated and powerful big-bodied flavors that coat the palate with dry extract while delivering outstanding length on the impressively complex finish. I can see why de Villaine believes this is perhaps the best Echézeaux that they have ever made as it could potentially equal, or even surpass, some of the recent greats such as 2005, 2010 and 2015.