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96 Robert Parker
The Domaine de la Romanee-Conti's light-colored 1996 Montrachet is spectacular (it was originally rated 95-98 in The Wine Advocate's Issue #115). Its profound, rich, and embracing nose reveals toasted minerals, white fruits, and hints of lemons. On the palate it displays enormous complexity, a broad, layered core of tropical fruits (mostly mangoes), liquid minerals, and stones. It is terribly refined, bracing, satin textured, medium-to-full-bodied, and mind-blowingly long in the finish. Its tightly wound core of fruit will require extended cellaring to blossom and reveal all of what this glorious wine has to offer. Projected maturity: 2004-2016.
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.