Located in the wonderfully named Rue du Temps Perdu, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is a Burgundy institution. The Domaine’s co-directors are Bertrand de Villaine, nephew of Aubert de Villaine and Perrine Fenal, daughter of Lalou Bize-Leroy.
Wine Region
Côte de Nuits, Burgundy
Vineyard
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
The story begins 752 years ago when the monks of the Priory of St Vivant, sited on a hill behind Vosne-Romanée, sold a tiny vineyard of 1.8 hectares called Cros des Clous which they had received some two centuries previously from the Dukes of Burgundy. It was the de Croonemberg family who changed this name from Cros des Clous to Romanée and who were the beneficiaries of its eventual sale in 1760 to Louis François de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, first cousin of Louis XV of France. As a result of the French Revolution, the vineyard was sold at auction in 1793 to a Parisian, Nicolas Defer. It was again sold in 1819 to Julien Ouvrard, Napoleons controversial banker, for FF 78,000. In 1869, Romanée-Conti was acquired by Monsieur Duvault Blochet who built up most of the holdings now owned by his direct descendants, the de Villaine family, and by the Leroy/Roch families. The vineyard of La Tâche was acquired by the Domaine in 1933, Romanée-St-Vivant, was managed by the Domaine from 1966, and in 1988, this parcel was purchased outright. The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti now owns in entirety the vineyards of Romanée-Conti and La Tâche, half of Richebourg, a third of Grands Échezeaux, a seventh of Échezeaux and more than half of Romanée-St-Vivant. Its only white wine is the incredibly rare Le Montrachet of 0.67 hectare out of a total vineyard area of just under 8 hectares. Bertrand de Villaine and Perrine Fenal are Co-Directors of the Domaine.
1933
The vineyard of La Tâche was acquired by the Domaine in 1933, Romanée-St-Vivant, was managed by the Domaine from 1966, and in 1988, this parcel was purchased outright.
44
The vineyards are grouped around the village of Vosne-Romanée on well drained slopes facing east and southeast. The soil is iron-rich limestone on a base of rock and marl with vines lying around 800ft above sea level. The average age of the vines is very high – around 44 years and the vineyards are cultivated organically.
1.8
The apogee of the Domaine is Romanée-Conti itself, the same 1.8 hectare vineyard purchased from the Priory of St Vivant over 750 years ago. It is both rich, concentrated and of supreme elegance and justifiably the most expensive wine of the Domaine.
The Vineyards
The vineyards are grouped around the village of Vosne Romanée on well drained slopes facing east and southeast. The soil is iron-rich limestone on a base of rock and marl with vines lying around 800ft above sea level. The average age of the vines is very high – around 44 years and the vineyards are cultivated organically. Soil supplements are limited to compost made from crushed vine roots, grape skins and residues from fermentation. To avoid compacting the soil with the use of tractors, horses were re-introduced to cultivate the vineyards of Romanée-Conti and Le Montrachet. Five hectares in La Tâche and Grands Echézeaux are now being cultivated biodynamically whereby the individual vines are treated with special natural preparations and according to a strict lunar timetable. Yields are very low at an average of 25 hl/ha (the Grand Cru rendement is 35 hl/ha). In other words, it takes the produce of three vines to produce one bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Yields are kept low through severe pruning early in the season, and green pruning (éclaircissage) in July/August with a “passage de nettoyage” completed immediately before harvest, to cut out substandard grapes. At harvest time, the grapes are sorted into small baskets and individually examined for health on triage tables, before the winemaking begins.
Winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking
Minimum intervention in the winery allows an entirely natural vinification. There is no de-stalking of the grapes, which undergo a very long cuvaison – up to a month – and fermentation is carried out at relatively low temperatures. The Domaine has its private supply of oak from the Tronçais forest. 100% new oak is used and maturation time depends on the quality of the vintage. New oak is used to eliminate any possibility of contamination which might result from older casks, and to marry the unique qualities of the fruit. There is no filtration and if racking off the lees is required this is done by gravity from cask to cask, never pumped. If the wines need to be fined, then fresh eggs are used. The wines spend sixteen to twenty months in wood before bottling. Both assemblage and bottling are done by gravity and usually cask by cask.
History
It is thought to date back to the Oligocene era, nearly 40 million years ago. The buttonhole is aptly named, being an aperture in the surrounding gravel plateau, exposing the vine roots directly to the fertile and moisture-retentive clay below.There is nonetheless also gravel at Petrus, starting some 60cm beneath the surface, which moderates this ready access to highly concentrated nutrients. Drainage is further aided by the gentle slopes.The vineyard itself has twelve sub-plots. As Neal Martin says in his book Pomerol, it is so unusual to see it broken down into these individual parcels that several of the commune’s winemakers failed to recognise it as Petrus in this ‘insider’ format.The two largest plots, Mario and Guy, are named after former vineyard workers, with neighbouring châteaux acknowledged in the names Certan and L’Évangile.
Vineyard
The 7.4 hectare vineyard comprises two main plots. The larger of these, covering around three quarters of the total area, is home to the younger Merlot vines, which are planted on hard limestone soils. The other, a plot called La Boutisse, is on more fractured limestone and is planted with 80+ year old Cabernet Franc and Merlot, bringing up the average vine age to over 45 years.
Three passes through the vineyard are made to harvest young Merlot, old Merlot and finally Cabernet Franc, which are all then vinified separately. Yields tend to be around 25-35hl/ha.
Organic certification was obtained in 2020 and the estate has been a member of Biodyvin since 2014 and currently in biodynamic conversion . Peter is not an advocate of green harvesting, saying he would rather encourage a natural balance in his vines (which was found in 2023 ‘thanks’ to the mildew).
He has encouraged biodiversity, planting bushes and shrubs at the borders of the vineyards. In his words, “I think there is a lot that can be done in Bordeaux to improve the environment.”
Cellars
Peter’s aim is to produce a classic, terroir-focused style of Saint-Émilion.
The manageable size of the estate, with its modern, functional cellar, allows for vinification by parcel and vine age.
Fermentation takes place at a moderate 22°C, so as not to extract too much from Rocheyron’s very concentrated grapes. As Peter diplomatically puts it, “excess concentration is not really the way forward.”
His comments on alcohol are also interesting – the higher the alcohol, the greater the extraction, which needs to be borne in mind, especially with Bordeaux’s increasingly warm summers. Also of interest is that Peter says the effect of climate change on his corner of Bordeaux has so far been beneficial.
If 2023 were an actor, it would be Kenneth Branagh – a modern interpretation of a classic.”
Peter Sisseck
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