Wafting from the glass with a deep and complex bouquet of dark wild berries, cassis, wilted rose petals, blood orange, exotic spices, licorice and coniferous forest floor, the 2017 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru is full-bodied, satiny textured and multidimensional. It's just as powerful as this year's La Tâche but even more elegantly framed by filigree structure, concluding with an intensely sapid and penetratingly fragrant finish. Pristinely balanced, this young Romanée-Conti possesses huge reserves for the long haul despite its deceptively supple youthful appeal, and it will reward extended bottle age. (William Kelley, The Wine Advocate, Jan 2020, 98 Pts)
The colour offers a gorgeous imperial purple of middling depth. The wine is sublime in the attack, deep roses here as well as the most sumptuous fruit, irrelevant between red and black, most astonishing finish except that we know it. All about the palate which is as regal as ever, just a question of scale. From a Taransaud barrel the colour was perhaps not so deep, the nose a little more expressive, with the same magical silky texture in the mouth again, a bit of whole bunch. (Jasper Morris, Nov 2018, 97-99 Pts)
The 2017 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru is dense, ample and also ethereal, as only it can be. Once again, Romanée-Conti elicits thoughts of art forms like cubist paintings or jazz, where themes are implied but never expressly stated. Above all else Romanée-Conti is a Burgundy that engages all the senses. You want answers, but all you get back is more questions. The 2017 is powerful and quite closed initially, yet with some aeration hints of black cherry, lavender and exotic spice start to appear. A closing rush of baritone inflections give it a real sense of gravitas. It’s a shame very few people will ever be able to taste it. Harvest took place on the morning of September 8. Drinking window: 2032-2057 (Antonio Galloni, Mar 2020, 96 Pts)
The 2017 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru was picked on September 8 at 35hl/ha and bottled April 25–26 . It has a quintessential Romanée-Conti bouquet of pure, seductive red fruit (morello cherry, cranberry, raspberry), extremely well defined and focused, plus subtle sea spray/seaweed aromas; with continued aeration, I noticed just a faint touch of curry leaf in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins and very fine acidity. A discreet crescendo in intensity leads to a harmonious, lightly spiced and slightly more mineral-driven finish than the La Tâche. Yet I cannot help feeling that the La Tâche has a little more complexity than the Romanée-Conti, and perhaps a little more potential. Let’s see. 627 cases produced. Drinking window: 2024-2050 (Neal Marin, Jan 2020, 96 Pts)
