Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Friends Tasting with James Handford MW
During this event we tasted a selection of wines from premium growers in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages with the aim of assessing the absolute quality of a premium grower, as well as comparing three very different vintages.
The room concluded that, at this level, the skill of the vigneron is to concentrate on expressing each climate and so produce an ever more unique and distinctive wine. Not only were these very different, but also, they showed distinction and vineyard character. 2020 was clearly the most perfect vintage of the three, while 2019 and 2021 offered plenty of good reason to be part of a well-formed Burgundy cellar.
The Wines
Domaine Roulot, Bourgogne Aligote 2019
On the nose there is a mix of the old and the new with vibrant lime peel alongside truffle and forest floor. This is highly intense with pointed lime and grapefruit, even kiwi. Despite a lifted and strong acidity that will hold the wine for another 5 years, there is a soft underbelly with a doughy texture. Will work beautifully with smelly cheese or rich white meat and fish dishes.
Again, a hint of truffle with an icing sugar dusting of sweetness and lemon sherbet. A little peach skin and vanilla. There’s is lovely complexity on both nose and palate. Apricot, honeydew melon and some earthy mineral notes too. Attractive, silky textured and perfect for drinking this year and next.
Youthful and closed to smell but for a fine focus of salty and slate mineral with delicate lemon. More distinctive lime fruit to taste but this offers much more elegance, longevity and purity. Perfectly integrated this is a gourmet white for the finest of fish dishes. The white wine of the night and certainly 2020 was the vintage of the night for white wines.
Brooding, sweet clementine skin and cool, clementine juice. No hint of oak yet still forceful and rich to the nose. Bright and mouth-watering acids, and a slight raw edge, are well balanced but ripe grapefruit and even exotic notes of lychee and guava. It’s a completely different profile than the Puligny; more laden with fruits and more powerful. It is still beautiful and deserving of the mighty reputation.
Intense nose of ripe red cherry, winter savoury and slightly gamey. There’s a saline and savoury note to the rich fruited palate. A lick of cream and fresh crushed strawberry round of a lingering and harmonious finish.
Lighter colour but very open and generous with its perfume and black spice nose. There’s a haunting depth to the aromatic profile. Soft, red fruits and easy on the palate. A hint of umami and mineral note. This is clearly lighter and ready for drinking, as a village wine should be, but very well put together.
Closed to the nose though the appearance is red and black to the point of opaque and you can almost feel the density in the glass. Fine, focussed, black and red cherry, loganberry juice and a slight yeast, savoury note. Deep and concentrated black and red fruit compote, a chalky minerality and fine acids. Generous and drinkable, despite a tiny note of reduction, though better with another few years in the cellar. Undisputed red of the night this.
Strong aromas of herbs, cedar, bell pepper, ground pepper and with a bit of reduction. Not the most attractive but distinctive of both Romanée St Vivant and Richebourg in youth. There’s a huge pressure of fruit that is, for now, hemmed in by a frame of crystalline acidity and ripe tannin. Those fruits will continue to ripen. The pepper notes will never completely dissipate and so important to find the optimal time for the wine to flower without being dominated by the herbaceous side. 10 to 15 years.
Many thanks to James for his notes on the wines tasted! If you are interested in joining us for one of our upcoming tastings, do take a look at our events page.
