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97 Robert Parker
The Montrachet was picked on 6 September at a respectable 37.1hl/ha. Lucid in colour, perhaps a little deeper than expected, it has a multi-faceted nose that you have to monitor over one hour. Hints of almond and butterscotch emerge at first, then salted caramel, pralines and peach skin. It is mercurial and utterly alluring. The palate is intense on the entry and immediately expresses a sense of vitality and tension. This Montrachet is suffused with great weight in the mouth with subtle touches of orange peel, almond and hazelnut that ebb with time. It mellows in the glass but never dispensing with one iota of tension, yet seeming if anything to gain in volume. This epitomizes great Montrachet. 265 cases produced. Drink 2016-2030+.
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.