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
A markedly more floral-suffused nose reflects ripe and very fresh notes of lavender, lilac, rose petal and violet on the aromas of both red and dark currant, anise, sandalwood and jasmine tea. There is excellent mid-palate density to surprisingly big-bodied and powerful flavors that conclude in a dusty, youthfully austere and impressively long finish that is shaped by dense but fine-grained tannins. This moderately austere effort is wonderfully classy and exceptionally stylish and is a RSV that should also age gracefully for years.
96 Points Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Wafting from the glass with aromas of dark wild berries, rose petals, violets, sweet spices and hints of cracked pepper, the 2020 Romanée-St-Vivant Grand Cru is full-bodied, layered and intense, with a beautifully pure, vibrant core of strikingly concentrated fruit, concluding with a long, resonant finish. More tightly wound than the Grands-Échézeaux, it will demand some patience.