Posts Tagged Burgundy

Ahhh, the tasting we’ve all been waiting for. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti or DRC. Wait! We were told that it is sacrilegious to shorten the name and it should be said out in full all the time. I guess when you produce such beautiful wines that are worshiped by every wine connoisseur around the world, such insistence cannot be blamed.

OK, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (thank God for copy and paste in iPhone OS 3). This event was organized by American Express with the wines supplied by Berry Bros & Rudd. Their own Burgundy Director, Jasper Morris MW, hosted the evening for the horizontal tasting of the 1996s. 1996! That’s C and R’s anniversary year. Cool. The dinner was at Grissini at the Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong. We’re not sure why this venue was chosen (the food was just OK), but the private dining room created a very nice intimate atmosphere for the lucky group of 12 enthusiasts.

During the cocktail reception, we (C specifically) indulged in the Krug Champagne, along with the delicious grissini wrapped with prosciutto.

The wines started with the Échézeaux and the Grands Échézeaux. And Jasper’s first reaction to the Échézeaux was “yum”. Yum??? Is such a comment allowed from a Master of Wine? He said that this was a simple reaction to a wine and one doesn’t need to be over detailed in all the different flavors and may distract from the fundamental enjoyment of the wine. That reiterates C’s rating of wines – like it or don’t like it…simple. We concur the “yum” for the Échézeaux, but the Grands Échézeaux was double “yum” being much smoother.

Next was the Romanée-St-Vivant which was more elegant and had more floral notes. This wine was originally from Domaine Marey-Monge, but was bought by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in 1988 and to pay tribute the the Marey-Monge family, included their name in the Romanée-St-Vivant label. It was a bit young and there are many more years of enjoyment in this wine. The slight acidity in the wine was eaten up nicely by the mascarpone cheese risotto.

The Richebourg was very nice, sort of like a combination of the previous three wines, but done with more finesse. The aromas were less intense to the nose, but had good body and was well balanced. At the same time, we were poured a glass of the La Tâche…the most anticipated wine of the evening. Wow! This was on an entirely different level. Full bodied and multidimensional, this monopole (vineyard controlled by a single winery – literally monopoly) reveals intense flavors both in the glass and on the palate. Having said that, this wine still has years before reaching its peak. And also, for such a respected wine, remember to add the accent on the ‘a’ (La Tâche), otherwise, tache would translate to a stain…a very expensive stain indeed.

The tastings started around 8pm, and the wines were caraffed two hours earlier. Some might argue that Burgundy wines should not be caraffed (or decanted) due to their delicate nature. But the reasoning for our 96s was that they are still young and therefore caraffed to aerate the wine. This is opposed to decanting, which is the process of separating the sediment from the wine.

Thanks to our friends at American Express and Berry Bros & Rudd, we were fortunate enough to take home a set of empty bottles of the great wines that we tasted. This will add nicely to our 1996 bottle collection. Very memorable.

– 16/20 (Échézeaux)
– 16.5/20 (Grands Échézeaux)
– 16/20 (Romanée-St-Vivant)
– 18/20 (Richebourg)
– 19/20 (La Tâche)

100129 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti - Carafes of 96s

100129 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti - Jasper Morris MW

100129 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti - 1996 collection