Tasting Notes:

92 points John Gilman

I remember well the big flap about the 1983 DRCs when they were released, as The Wine Spectator famously came out and called the vintage “hail-tainted” at the domaine and it was pretty hard to sell the wines in my merchant days (though I think the price on this ’83 Echézeaux was under fifty dollars a bottle back then!) and they tended to languish on the shelf for a few years. I had not tasted a bottle of the ’83 DRC Echézeaux since fairly soon after release and was very curious to try this wine when a bottle crossed my path recently. It was really a very fine example of the vintage, a bit lean in style, but with plenty of depth and intensity and no signs of hail taint that I could see. The bouquet is a fine blend of cherries, orange zest, cinnamon, woodsmoke, really fine minerality, fresh herb tones and forest floor. On the palate the wine is fullish, pure and impressively transparent, with a good core, fine complexity, tangy acids and fine length and grip on the modestly tannic finish. The tannins have resolved here very nicely, and while this is not a particularly opulent Echézeaux, there is an awful lot to like here today. (1/2015)

Robert Parker’s 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. (RP) (1/1990)

Producer:

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti is unquestionably Burgundy’s most famous estate, and among serious oenophiles, it may be the most famous wine estate in the world. Its Grand Cru Pinot Noirs and one Chardonnay regularly command some of the highest prices for any wine produced anywhere in the world, and according to many reviewers the wines are generally celestial. Though its history is complicated, the domaine is now owned by several long-time Burgundy families, with some owners holding just a very few shares. The 62.5 acres of vineyard owned by the domaine are planted to Pinot Noir and a small amount of Chardonnay. The wines produced are Grands Echezeaux, Echezeaux, Romanee-St.-Vivant, Montrachet, Richebourg, Romanee-Conti, and La Tache. Of the Pinot Noirs, the rarest is the Romanee-Conti, with an annual production of only 450 cases. The most plentiful, theoretically, is La Tache, produced in quantities of about 1,900 cases annually.

Bottle Size:

750 mL

Storage History:

Stored on it’s side in a climate controlled cellar since purchase.

Condition:

Please note: The item in the photos is the exact item you will receive.
Overall outstanding condition.
Bottle and label have been carefully examined and authenticated.