Domaine De La Romanee-Conti's 2006 Echezeaux is significantly more perfumed and brighter than the corresponding Duvault-Blochet cuvee. Cherry, red raspberry, and grenadine in the nose are alluringly entwined with bittersweet, iris-like floral perfume and tinged with flattering, oak-enhanced nutmeg and vanilla. This displays the levity and textural refinement one comes to cherish in so many of the better wines of its vintage, and the persistent sense of florality perfectly suits the lift and vivacity of an invigoratingly lingering finish. At the same time, there is marrow-like meaty richness to add depth. The equilibrium here seems to me typically of 2006, too, but de Villaine also credits the equilibrium that the vines here – now averaging 45 years of age – have attained. There is more than enough tannin in place to match the wine's energy and to insure at least 10-12 years of deli1ght, but this is much more immediately charming than the corresponding 2005. Drink Date: 2009-2021 (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#186, Dec 2009, 92 Pts)
The Domaine's 2006 Grands-Echezeaux is altogether less charming and flattering than its ostensibly lesser sibling, leading as it does with fresh red meat and pronouncedly saline, marine mineral notes even in the nose. In the mouth, this is relatively spare but formidably-concentrated and finely-tannic, with cedar, tartly-edged though ripe black fruits, and alkaline mineral notes that carry into a striking, bloodily carnal and almost briny finish. Here is Pinot Noir in its role as a mirror for human flesh and bone. What I see sends shivers down my spine and excites my imagination, but the wine seems to have no intention of flattering me. I didn't encounter another Pinot at all like this in the vintage, and it should be fascinating to follow for a dozen or more years, but unlike the Echezeaux, I would not plan to open any bottles for at least another 3-4. Drink Date: 2013-2025 (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#186, Dec 2009, 92 Pts)
The Domaine de La Romanee-Conti's 2006 Romanee-St.-Vivant charts its own mysterious path, dissimilar to that of their Grands-Echezeaux, as well as reflecting the strides in quality that have manifestly been achieved in recent years in this site, more than at any other at this domaine. Iris, buddleia, and musky narcissus-like floral perfume; ripe purple plum and blackberry; sassafras and licorice; along with smoked meat and a hoisin-like amalgam of spices and soy all waft alluringly from the glass. The tannins here are ultra-refined and there is a vintage-typical sense of levity, despite all of the dark intrigue of enveloping black fruits, forest floor, fungal, and carnal flavors that persist on the palate. Here is an uncanny alliance of the sensual and thought-provoking such as only great red Burgundy among the world's red wines can engender, and if this wine doesn't stimulate in you cravings and wonder at once, the fault is doubtless in yourself and not the glass. It seems to marry the brightness and finesse of the 2002 with the texturally richness of the (unexpectedly fine) 2000, two standouts in recent tasting of Romanee-St.-Vivant that I was privileged to attend. But there is much more depth here, and I expect that this wine's beauty will be worth pondering and savoring for at least two decades. Drink Date: 2009-2029 (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#186, Dec 2009, 95 Pts)
Domaine de La Romanee-Conti's 2006 La Tache possesses a sense of sheer density and a viscosity – by no means precluding energy – that go beyond the other wines in the Domaine's current collection. Scents of bitter-sweet floral perfume, citrus oils, white pepper, peat, and black fruit distillates pungently, almost aggressively fill the nose. The marrow and beef gelatin aspect of this Pinot is salient, but is allied on a palpably tannic palate with similarly impressive concentrated cooked black fruits, dark mushroom stock, forest floor, smoky Lapsang tea, and licorice. For grip and power, too, this surpasses its stable mates. But a glance back at the Romanee-St.-Vivant suggests that you can't have it all, and that this La Tache cannot approach that wine's finesse or quite equal its mystery. Still, I suspect this will be worth following for at least two decades. Drink Date: 2009-2029 (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#186, Dec 2009, 94 Pts)
The Domaine's 2006 Richebourg leads with ripe, bright red fruits and smoked meat; fills the palate with sweet fruit concentrates and abundant, fine tannin, while tart notes of fruit skin, bitterness of cherry pit, and bittersweet vanilla lend counterpoint and invigoration; and finishes with striking suggestions of smoked and roasted meat as well as crushed stone and iodine. What starts out suggestive of sweetness and light, turns dark and brooding. If you don't find that too depressing a metaphor to contemplate, and if you have patience (and, naturally, the requisite budget), this should be seriously worth revisiting from around 8-15 or more years of age. Drink Date: 2009-2024 (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#186, Dec 2009, 93 Pts)
Aubert de Villaine and his team harvested their 2006 Montrachet on September 26, and it was bottled (as a single assemblage) at the end of 2007. High-toned peach, lemon oil, musk, and floral aromas mark the penetrating, ethereal nose. Smoky, peach kernel pungency weaves its way through nutty, peachy richness on the palate. Less obviously dense, rich and sappy than the extraordinary 2005, this 2006 for all of its sheer viscosity and ripeness, displays a dynamic, almost shimmering sense of fruit and mineral interplay. Intriguingly, in my initial – November, 2007 tasting – this effect was more pronounced from a barrel that had been rolled to disburse the lees than in one that had undergone conventional batonnage. The youthful 2006 reflects its new wood environment in a way that the 2005 – at similar stages in its evolution – did not. There is no lack here of the mystery that should be expected from one of the world’s most fabled and expensive wines, not just in the paradox of viscosity, richness and power combined with elegance, lift, and refinement; but also in nuances that left me groping the lexicon for animal or mineral descriptors. (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#180, Dec 2008, 96 Pts)
An extraordinary as well as extraordinarily intense aromatic display greets you from the glass of 2006 Romanee-Conti. Rose petals, griotte cherries, almond extract, mint, and cinnamon once again put me in mind of archetypal pinot with a soupcon of Gewurztraminer. The remarkable perfume and spice continue inner-mouth, allied to a silken textural refinement (as if the tannins were self-dissolving); to pure, fresh, but not at all superficially sweet cherry and raspberry essence; and to deep, marrowy meatiness and hints of truffle and forest floor. This pivots at midpoint, as it were – though far more subtly than does its Richebourg sibling – from perfume and fruit to almost sinister animal and mineral suggestions. The finish here is at once positively ethereal and deeply, darkly mysterious, like lingering harmony at the extremes of audibility. I suspect it will also outlive the other wines from this estate and vintage. (David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate#186, Dec 2009, 98 Pts)
