2010 DRC Tasting

We tasted the full 2010 DRC range of wines at the Ecole des Grains Nobles. Aubert de Villaine and Michel Bettane led the tasting over 2.5 hours. There were about 25 of us in total. Thank you to my friend Bill for inviting me this year. It was a remarkable experience.

• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton Domaine Prince Florent de Merode 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Corton Grand Cru

  Initially this was rather closed on the nose, but over 2 hours with lots of swirling it opened up. Nice ripe red fruit, some spice. Vibrant on the palate with great energy and tension. Bright red fruit with some floral notes. Medium depth. Fine tannin on the medium finish.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Much more open than the Corton. Slightly darker color. A bit of reduction which sparked a big discussion amongst the group. Almost effervescent on the palate. Red and black fruit, wonderful spice. A bit less energy than the Corton, but more complete. Kept improving. Medium++ finish that was just a touch dry and displayed the fine tannin.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Grands-Echezeaux Grand Cru

  Darker still in color compared to the Echezaux and the Corton. The nose was even more expressive and emphasized dark fruit with a bit of red fruit, lots of spice, a touch of earth and wet stone. The palate was more refined, rounder and deeper than the prior two wines. Much longer and more powerful finish. Really impressive.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant 94 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru

  If I could say there was a disappointment tonight, relatively speaking of course, this was it. The nose was very impressive with highly perfumed red and black fruit, roses, violets and a hint of earth and wet stone. Thinner than the Grands Echezeaux, sweeter red fruit, much more refined and elegant. Sleek. Initially, there was an odd chemical note, but this blew off for the most part, but lingered ever so slightly. Medium ++ finish. An outstanding wine, but I expected a better showing given its place in the lineup.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg 97 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Richebourg Grand Cru

  Wow! You could smell this from across the room. An absolutely wonderful and exceptionally powerful nose of dark fruit, earth, spice, mushrooms, mineral notes and iron. Much more earthy than the prior wines. A giant step up from the RSV in aromatics. Outstanding fruit and spice on the palate. Extremely robust yet superbly elegant. The token power without weight. Great complexity. Without question, this was the most open for business tonight and seemed to show a clear step up from the previous 4 wines. Incredibly long finish with fantastic grip. Wonderful.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 98 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Tâche Grand Cru

  Coming off the Richebourg high I was anxious to see how the La Tache would compare. The nose was cooler, more airy but substantially more complex. Dominated by dark fruit, but more red fruit than the Richebourg the nose exhibited powerful spice, earth, more funkiness, wet stone, strong floral notes and minerals. Tasting this right after the Richebourg was a very instructive moment. It was like going from a 2.0 megapixel camera to a 50 megapixel camera as so many more details that you didn't think were missing in the previous wines suddenly became apparent. Concentrated and powerful, yet supremely elegant red fruit, rose petals, a minty note and the stem note was much more evident. Great earthy character. Extremely long finish with outstanding grip.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 97 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Romanée-Conti Grand Cru

  Moving on to the Romanee Conti, the table talk was that it would be more reserved than the prior wines and that turned out to be correct. The color was lighter and cloudier than the La Tache. The nose was more reserved but exhibited the same level of complexity if not more floral and spice notes in a very subtle way. Initially quite closed in the mouth, but after about 45min in the glass it revealed more and more fruit, but was definitely holding back. My last sip was the best with an incredibly long finish emphasizing spice, stems and floral notes. Excellent grip and wonderfully fine tannin. The La Tache was more showy for sure, but the supreme elegance of this wine was clear.

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• 2010 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet 96 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Montrachet Grand Cru

  This was my first ever DRC Montrachet and I was very very excited. Some pear, peach and white flowers on the nose. More tropical fruit on the palate and while this was extremely rich, it was not at all heavy and the purity of the fruit was striking set against a distinct mineral background. Extremely long finish. I would love to try this again in 10 years.

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