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Domaine de la Romanee Conti |
The domaine traces its history back to the monks of the Priory of St. Vincent who were bestowed the vineyard from the Dukes of Burgundy two centuries earlier. In 1232 they donated 1.8 hectares of land known as Cros des Clous to the local Abbey of Saint-Vivant, now known as Romanée-St-Vivant.
In 1631 it was sold to the de Croonembourg family who changed the name to "Romanée" and acquired the adjacent vineyard of "La Tâche" (which literally translates as "task".) The origin of the word "Romanée" is uncertain, perhaps in deference to the Romans? We may never know.
Throughout the 18th century its wines became renowned but in 1760 André de Croonembourg decided to sell the domaine. A fierce battle of ownership ensued between the king's mistress, Marquise de Pompadour and her nemesis Louis-François de Bourgon, Prince de Conti, first cousin of Louis XV, whom she had exiled from the royal court at Versailles. It was Conti who became the proud owner of the most esteemed vineyard in Burgundy for the princely sum of 8,000 livres, for which Conti duly appended his name. Henceforth Romanée-Conti and La Tâche were under separate ownership.
However the Prince de Conti decided to keep all the wine for his own personal consumption, to the chagrin of virtually every person in France, who responded by their deification of La Tâche instead. La Tâche was purchased by the Marey family in 1791, who already owned plots in Romané-Saint-Vivant, although at that time it only covered 1.5 hectares.
Fortunately for everyone except Conti (who eventually died in exile in Spain) the Romanée-Conti vineyard was sequestered by the State in 1793 and the bien nationale was eventually purchased by the Parisian Nicolas Defer de la Nouerre who sold it in 1819 to former banker of Napoléon, Julien Ouvrard for 78,000 francs, triple the value of Chambertin or indeed La Tâche. Ouvrard also owned the entire climat of Clos-de-Vougeot and vinified the wine there.
In 1869 it was sold again to Mon. Duvault-Blochet who Clive Coates MW desribes as "probably the most important vineyard-owner Burgundy has seen since the Revolution" He expanded the domaine's holdings, purchasing vines in neighbouring Grand Cru`s such as Richebourg, Grand Echézeaux and Echézeaux. He was honoured in the exceptional vintages of 1999 and 2002 by having a special cuvée named after him.
Up until the 1930`s, part of La Tâche was labelled as Les Gaudichots. Les Gaudichots was absorbed into La Tâche in 1936 after several lawsuits. In 1966, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti took over management of holdings by the Marey-Monge family (you can sometimes find the name mentioned on bottles to the confusion of many) and in 1988 they bought it outright.
Aubert de Villaine commenced his tenure at the domaine in 1953. He learnt the ropes from his father Henri, who co-owned the domaine with Henri Leroy. Leroy had acquired his share in 1942 when the domaine was facing financial difficulties (how absurd that seems now.)
When Henri Leroy passed away, his daughter, the redoubtable Lalou Bize-Leroy became Aubert`s partner, but conflicting personalities (de Villaine self-effacing, introspective and scholarly; Lalou ambitious, extroverted and tenacious), disagreements over distribution and Lalou`s personal acquisition of vineyards from Domaine Hudelot led to a somewhat volatile relationship and ultimately Lalou`s expulsion in 1992. Her nephew Charles Roch was granted her share but after his tragic death just one month later, his brother Henri-Frédéric became co-owner.
I am sincerely proud to offer you these very exceptional and extremly rare wines from the vineyards that reside within Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.
Please note that all of our bottles from the domaine have been purchased upon their first release or were offered to us by the domaine directly and have aged in our cellar since our reception of the cases.
Cheers!
Mark
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2002 Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru "Cuvee Duvault-Blochet"
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575
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| 2006 Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru "Cuvee Duvault-Blochet" | 325
| | 2008 Vosne-Romanee Premier Cru "Cuvee Duvault-Blochet" | 360
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| 1979 Echezeaux
| 650
| | 1989 Echezeaux | 675
| | 1990 Echezeaux | 900
| | 1996 Echezeaux | 625
| | 1997 Echezeaux | 475
| | 1998 Echezeaux | 725
| | 2000 Echezeaux | 625
| | 2001 Echezeaux | 495
| | 2002 Echezeaux | 475
| | 2003 Echezeaux | 700
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| 1988 Grands Echezeaux --Jeroboam - 3 Liters
| 3500
| | 1994 Grands Echezeaux | 750
| | 1995 Grands Echezeaux | 625
| | 1996 Grands Echezeaux | 999
| | 1998 Grands Echezeaux | 775
| | 1999 Grands Echezeaux | 850
| | 2000 Grands Echezeaux | 750
| | 2001 Grands Echezeaux | 675
| | 2002 Grands Echezeaux | 650
| | 2007 Grands Echezeaux | 700
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| 1979 Romanee-Saint-Vivant
| 850
| | 1994 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 825
| | 1995 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 850
| | 1996 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 925
| | 1998 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 850
| | 1999 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 950
| | 2000 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 750
| | 2001 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 925
| | 2002 Romanee-Saint-Vivant | 850
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| | 1994 Richebourg | 1150
| | 1995 Richebourg | 1200
| | 1996 Richebourg | 1100
| | 1998 Richebourg | 1050
| | 1999 Richebourg | 1600
| | 2000 Richebourg | 1100
| | 2001 Richebourg | 1200
| | 2002 Richebourg | 1400
| | 2006 Richebourg | 1000
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| 1994 La Tache
| 1825
| | 1995 La Tache | 1825
| | 1996 La Tache | 1895
| | 1998 La Tache | 1700
| | 2000 La Tache | 1775
| | 2001 La Tache | 1650
| | 2002 La Tache | 1750
| | 2006 La Tache | 1700
| | 2007 La Tache | 1700
| | 2008 La Tache | 1700
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| 1993 Romanee-Conti
| 9000
| | 1994 Romanee-Conti | 8600
| | 1995 Romanee-Conti | 9500
| | 1996 Romanee-Conti | 9999
| | 1998 Romanee-Conti | 9200
| | 2000 Romanee-Conti | 9200
| | 2001 Romanee-Conti | 9600
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| *All Prices and Vintages are subject to change without notice due to Availability
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