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94 Robert Parker
The 2011 Richebourg was picked on 7 and 8 September at 28.36hl/ha. It has a very pure bouquet, a mixture of blackberry, raspberry leaf, freshly tilled meadow and a touch of cold stone. It is not a powerful bouquet, but delineated and very focused. The palate is not dissimilar to the Grands Echezeaux on the entry: linear and poised with crisp brambly red fruit. But it swerves another way mid-through, developing a wonderful candied core of strawberry and Morello and a caressing finish sending ripples of pleasure across the senses. In many ways it is a self-effacing Richebourg with charm and candour, but I Richebourg that I suspect may be deceptively long lived. The Richebourg 2011 is a fair prince rather than a grand king. 931 cases produced. Drink 2018-2035.
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.