Domaine de la Romanée Conti, La Tache Grand Cru 2014

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2014 La Tâche Grand Cru is a very refined nose, so much so that blind I might mistake it from Romanée-Conti (as I opined to Bertrand de Villaine himself). Very precise, extremely pure and with wonderful mineralité, there is a lucidity embroidered into this wine. The palate is medium-bodied, symmetrical, with a little edginess creeping in here that lends the finish a sense of animation. The fruit shades from red to more black as it opens, yet the aftertaste is extraordinarily long and persistent. There is a kind of magic in this La Tâche.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2014 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked on 17, 18 and 20 September at 32 hectoliters per hectare, bottled between 1 and 25 April 2016. It has a quite startling bouquet: dark berry fruit, bay leaf, hints of jasmine tea and autumn leaves. It delivers multi-faceted aromatics, a mercurial bouquet, brown spices emerging with continued aeration in the glass. It is a tad more forward than I expected. The palate is medium-bodied with great structure and fine grip. This is a slightly more masculine La Tâche and replicating its performance in barrel, the fruit spectrum shimmies from red to black (incidentally, exactly as I observed when I tasted it in barrel). There is a lovely lift on the finish that leaves you with a piquant kiss on the cheek. This is wonderful. 1,929 cases produced. Tasted February 2017.

vinous96

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

Bright medium red. Ineffably complex, pure scents of fresh raspberry, cherry, rose petal, peppery spices, crushed herbs and mint. Almost surprisingly silky on entry, then sweet but very restrained, even a bit ungiving, in the middle palate, with pungent red berry and mineral flavors conveying an impression of electric energy. This wine builds slowly and inexorably with air, opening out into a peacock's talk of a finish that's lifted by a pungent hint of green pepper. This youthfully austere wine will need a good 15 years to display its inherent flesh and richness but even today it stands out for its finesse.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

Deep, bright red. Wonderfully pure, perfumed scents and flavors of raspberry coulis, Oriental spices, wild herbs and earth accented by a minty nuance. Pristine and penetrating, communicating powerful sappy urgency of flavor and great inner-palate energy. A real essence of Pinot Noir with magical fruit intensity. The noble tannins arrive late, adding grip to the inexorable rising finish. A truly explosive red Burgundy. Incidentally, Bernard Noblet told me that the estate has now completed its replanting in La Tâche, although the younger vines will not find their way into this cuvée for at least 10 more years, and perhaps closer to 20.