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.
96 Points Allen Meadows
Once again, the nose is super-floral with ripe but airy and elegant aromas of various dark berries, star anise, dried tangerine peel, warm earth and a plethora of spice elements. As is virtually always the case, there is better size, weight and muscle present on the broad-shouldered flavors that delivers stunningly good length on the equally compact and beautifully well-balanced finale. There is superb complexity and overall, this is breathtakingly good though as always with this wine, be prepared to allow for ample bottle age as the supporting tannic spine is very firm. Magnificent.
96 Points Wine Advocate
The 2019 Grands Échézeaux Grand Cru is more reserved than the Échézeaux, even if it’s far from forbidding. Mingling aromas of blackberries and raspberries with notions of exotic spices, orange rind, smoked duck and forest floor, it’s full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with broad structural shoulders supplied by ripe, powdery tannins. Layered and muscular, it’s remarkably seamless and integrated at this early stage, concluding with a long, sapid finish.
97 Points Jasper Morris
The colour is a little denser, a little richer than the Echezeaux. The bouquet is more backward, yet more complex. It is hard to put specific fruits to this. Increasing weight on the nose, all red berry, no black notes. The wealth of fruit attacks quickly and then stays, with fresh roses jostling among the lush but still quite precise fruit flavours. The structure maintains its role and helps to keep this powerful wine fresh. The volume now swells magically on the second half of the palate, with darker notes.