My review of the 2017 wines from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tasted from barrel and explanation of the vintage is here.
The most notable fact is the exceptional quality of each of the wines. Should you be lucky enough to have access to and means to afford these wines, you don’t have to go for Romanée-Conti or La Tâche to experience the top greatness of Burgundy here. Each wine is in its proper place, although there is the unusual inversion of personalities of Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg that I observed already last year.
2017 Corton
The nose shows the austerity and stoniness that are characteristic of the way the Domaine produces Corton. The mouth is intense and pure with red currant fruit, sleekness, smoothness of texture, and outstanding penetration. On this day, it is perhaps the most open of the set. 96/A
2017 Echézeaux
Yet again, the extra effort that the Domaine has made for some time now with the Echézeaux is apparent. The nose has spicy dark fruits, with some oak still showing. The spicy dark fruits continue in the mouth where there is also a bit of lead pencil. The wine shows good acidity and freshness and overall calm. 96/A
2017 Grands-Echézeaux
The Grands-Echézeaux is spicy in the nose with a hint of the typical licorice. The mouth shows red and dark fruits with the licorice, clarity, purity, balance, intensity, and high quality tannins. 96+/A
2017 Romanée-Saint-Vivant
The nose of the Romanée-Saint-Vivant is truffly, deep, spicy, and focused. The mouth features crystalline dark fruits with some licorice, purity, a medium-weight body, length, and sensuality. 97+/A+
2017 Richebourg
The Richebourg, too, has a truffly nose. The mouth shows great depth along with finesse in its medium-weight body. The wine is calm with spicy dark fruits and a bit of creaminess of the texture, opening with time to greater amplitude and sensuality. It’s as though the Richebourg and Romanée-Saint-Vivant have traded identities — an observation I had when tasting these two wines out of barrel, too. 97/A+
2017 La Tâche
Relatively closed in the nose, the mouth of La Tâche shows dark fruits and a bit more weight than the other wines, but for La Tâche, this is a relatively restrained wine for now. The wine has a gorgeous texture that rolls off the tongue, sensuality, and great depth. 97(+)/A+
2017 Romanée-Conti
The Romanée-Conti is fairly closed in the nose but shows some truffly aspects. The wine is light on the tongue, but with breadth and intensity and a velvet texture. The red and dark fruits show precision and calm, and the wine has an amazingly long finish with great sensuality. 98/A+
2017 Montrachet
Take the Domaine’s Montrachet in a great year for white wines and unsurprisingly, you get a white wine of legendary proportions. The nose is intense, pure, deep, and mineral. The mouth is ripe but with plenty of minerality and depth to go with apple-tinged fruit. The wine is pure and racy, a classic iron fist in a velvet glove. It is the acidity that lifts all the rest here, giving finesse and layering on the tongue. 98/A+