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Red Wine: 1983 | Domaine de la Romanée-Conti | Richebourg Grand Cru

These are both powerful and charming wines: robust, well-structured and harmonious. They develop intense aromas, typical for fine Burgundies: ripe or candied red and dark fruits, musk, leather and humus. A lingering and fabulously rich aroma are what make this cru one of the world's greatest wines.

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Producer: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Ratings: WA | 90  BH | 93

Vintage: 1983

Size: 750ml

ABV: 13%

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Country/Region: France, Burgundy

Detailed Description

These are both powerful and charming wines: robust, well-structured and harmonious. They develop intense aromas, typical for fine Burgundies: ripe or candied red and dark fruits, musk, leather and humus. A lingering and fabulously rich aroma are what make this cru one of the world's greatest wines.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 1983 vintage for Domaine de la Romanee-Conti was a very tough year. First there was hail, then the advent of rot in August thanks to the tropical heat and humidity. When the harvest occurred, the domaine instructed its pickers to pick the grapes, not the grape bunches, by hand and to discard all of the rotten grapes. The results are splendidly concentrated, rich wines, but wines that are extremely expensive and need at least a decade of cellaring.

• Burghound: I hadn't had the chance to try this wine since the early '90s yet I had always thought it was perhaps the class of the DRC '83s and this bottle did nothing to dissuade my view, primarily because there is virtually no trace of the hail taint that detracts ever-so-mildly from several of the others, particularly the La Tâche. An expressive, elegant and spicy nose that has now gone completely secondary with traces of tertiary notes, particularly sous bois introduces rich, full, sweet and delicious flavors that retain a fine sense of underlying power and harmony, all wrapped in a concentrated, velvety and long finish. This also does not display the excess tannins that many '83s have today and overall, the '83 Riche is an impressive effort.

Producer InformationDomaine de la Romanée-Conti, or DRC as it is commonly known, is easily Burgundy's best-known and most collectible wine producer. Based in the Burgundy village of Vosne-Romanée, the domaine sells wines from eight different grand cru vineyards that span the length of the Côte d'Or. The most famous comes from the eponymous Romanée-Conti vineyard, and on average is the most expensive wine in the world. The domaine predominately produces Pinot Noir-based wines from 28 hectares (69 acres) of grand cru vineyard. Alongside Romanée-Conti are La Tâche, Romanée-Saint-Vivant and Richebourg in Vosne-Romanée; plus Échezeaux and Grands Échezeaux bottlings. Fruit from Corton-Bressandes, Corton Clos du Roi and Corton Renardes is combined in a single Corton Grand Cru red. There are three white (Chardonnay) wines made. Only one of these, the Montrachet is made widely avilable. A Bâtard-Montrachet and a Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits are not publically distributed. Of course, La Romanée-Conti is the domaine's most famous asset, and the amount of wine made from less than 2ha (5 acres) of land amounts to just 6000 bottles a year. The vineyard has a long history, dating back to the Abbey of Saint-Vivant in the 13th Century. It took on the Romanée name in 1631, and the Conti in 1760. In 1869, it was obtained by Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet, who left it to his great grandchildren upon his death. It was then that the Société-Civile du Domaine de la Romanée-Conti was established to avoid Napoleonic inheritance laws. Today, DRC is owned in part by the de Villaine family and in part by the Leroy family. The decades-long figurehead of the estate, Aubert de Villaine, stepped down from his role in 2022 and nephew Bertrand de Villaine currently oversees the estate. It was famously run by Lalou Bize-Leroy for a time, until a dispute saw her ousted from control. DRC's eight grand cru wines are a familiar label on the world auction scene, and are notable for the high prices they regularly fetch, particularly the Romanée-Conti. Unfortunately, this comes with its own challenges – it is also one of the world's most frequently counterfeited wines.

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