1988 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant

Community Tasting Notes (26) Avg Score: 91.6 points

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  4/21/2024 - mflesh wrote: 96 Points

  The star of the show was a 1988 DRC St. Vivant. Oh man what a wine. This one had rather good provenance per discussion. Poured a nice ruby red to the glass. Initially I think this one was showing a lot of dusty funky "grandma's closet" kind of notes, but 4-5 hours later this one was definitely not there anymore! The whole cluster on this wine is quite apparent from the nose to the palate, and is a note that I have come to really love about pinot noir. Out of the glass, bright red fruit perfume, stemmy, intoxicating. The palate was red licorice, raspberry cola, even a hint of watermelon. As it sat on the palate, black tea, tobacco leaf started to emerge. Was served with a seared grouper and was the perfect pairing. The wine finished with rather nice rounded edges for a wine that is 35 years old. Still with moderately chewy oak tannin, you can definitely tell that the tannin are starting to fall out a bit here. I think this one, if properly stored, has another 15 to 20 years at optimal drinking before the secondary and tertiary notes start to take hold. My first DRC experience with awesome wino friends to celebrate a 70th birthday. What a nice celebratory bottle indeed!

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  9/22/2023 - fcxj wrote: 92 Points

  Slightly muted aromatics. Somewhat dusty palate, bit short. (1623/19346)

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  7/24/2023 - BradE wrote:

  Paired with an 88 DRC Echezeaux. A perfect shape bottle, straight out of an assortment case owned forever and opened that day. A lovely wine that showed the vintage well. Initially less rustic and complex than the Eche. But the fruit was more robust, and over the course of dinner it really opened up nicely. I like the 88's more than others generally, and loved drinking this pair together.

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  10/19/2019 - fcxj wrote: 90 Points

  Lacks excitement. Awkward period between excellent 80s and resurgent 00s.

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  3/19/2017 - dcwino wrote: 92 Points

  Mostly DRC lazy Sunday lunch (Eddie V's - Tysons Corner, VA): Alan S. mentions that this seemed DOA when first opened. The color seems very mature, bricking at the rim. Medium expressive fully mature nose displaying stewed tomato, dry cherry, raspberry preserve, cola, licorice, strong sous bois, tree bark and earth. Very good concentration, sous bois and dry cherry driven palate impression, still showing strong acidity and tannins and a long sous bois and earth driven finish. My initial impression is that the wine was not cellared properly. Based on Burgundy Al’s tn from Sep, 2015, this may have been a correct bottle. Very firm and masculine wine that is quite advanced. If served blind, I may have guessed as a Barolo. Certainly not worth the price tag.

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