The Best Wine in 50 Years

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Originally posted January 26, 2018.

Aubert de Villaine, of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC) is sure that of his 50 years at the vineyard, the 2015 vintage is the best. He told Decanter.com that the 2015 is “the most remarkable of my career.”

Debbie and I have visited Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the first of many “boots-on-the-ground” trips to the vineyard. The small 4.5 acre operation produces only 500 cases a year, and the 2015 vintage will be extremely rare. Look for perhaps one bottle in any major location. My wild guess is that each will set back the buyer $15,000. Needless to say a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2015 is not for the budget minded.

My interest in building an inventory of French wine for the future has been strong for some time. Debbie and I have taken numerous trips to Burgundy and the Rhone Valley to study the process of wine making and all its aspects. A Burgundy wine tour is a must for anyone serious about investing in French wine.

Burgundy’s wine has become such an investment class that the super wealthy are not content anymore to simple stock their cellars with bottles. Now some of the wealthiest people in the world are rushing to buy vineyards in the region.

John Stimpfig notes at Decanter.com:

The Burgundy 2015 vintage, awarded 5/5 for Côte d’Or reds by our experts, was marked by a hot, dry summer which gave generous fruit and ripe tannins, cooling off just before harvest to preserve good levels of juicy acidity which underpin many of the wines.

Every wine in DRC’s line up in 2015, apart from the Corton, underwent 100% whole bunch fermentation. ‘Although we’ve done it before, in 2005 and 2009, it is a bit unusual as you need particular vintage conditions: no millerandage, good ripeness and phenolic maturity,’ said de Villaine.