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99 Robert Parker
Attentive and wealthy readers will note that I have revised my original, barrel sample-based score for the Domaine de la Romanee Conti's 1995 Montrachet (a 95-97+ in Issue #110). Simply put, this is a mind-boggling, virtually perfect wine. It displays breath-taking aromas of liquid minerals, creamed hazelnuts, candied chestnuts (marrons glaces), white flowers, anise, and buttered toast that seem to gain in expressiveness and intensity with time. On its utterly extraordinary palate layer upon layer of stones, straw, minerals, grilled bread, and sweet white flowers can be found. Oily, full-bodied, magnificently concentrated, and extracted, this is as complex a wine as I have ever had the honor to pour over my lips and palate. Perfectly balanced and structured for the long haul, this wine also possesses one of the longest and purist finishes I have ever encountered. A winemaking tour de force! Projected maturity: 2008-2025.
Producer
Domaine de la Romanée Conti
Not only the most iconic domaine in Burgundy, but also possibly in France and even in the world. With a monopoly of the two greatest vineyards - Romanée-Conti and La Tâche - and with a generous handful of some others within Vosne-Romanée and beyond, it secured its revered position all while being completely discreet and even modest. It is co-owned by the Villaine and Leroy-Roch families, with Aubert de Villaine guiding the ship since 1974. But it can trace its roots back to the 13th century, when its first vines were planted by the monks of Saint-Vivant. They have been organic since the 1980s and biodynamic since the 1990s. They are also undoubtedly the most famous domaine in the region that uses (and has always used) whole cluster fermentation, an established technique that was eschewed by Henri Jayer, but has inspired many others in recent years. Allen Meadows, arguably the most knowledgeable Burgundy expert and critic in the world, has only given one wine a perfect score - the 1945 Romanée-Conti.