Domaine de la Romanée Conti, La Tache Grand Cru 2015

robert_parker100

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2015 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked on 7 and 8 September at 25 hectoliters per hectare. Having enjoyed the startling 1999 La Tâche in recent weeks, I was privately conjecturing how the 2015 would compare. It is more immediate on the nose compared to the Richebourg: shucked oyster shells, a tangible marine influence that permeates the exceptionally pure black fruit and then after three or four minutes, I noticed a distant hint of black truffle joining the fray. The palate is intriguing. It is very tightly wound at first, smooth and silky in texture but underneath there is fire in its belly: quite spicy and energetic. Then it delivers a very assertive grip on the structured finish as it coats the inner mouth, a La Tâche with otherworldly persistence, the tongue tingling two minutes after the wine has departed. If I can use a technical wine term...wow.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: William Kelley

The 2015 La Tâche Grand Cru is a young classic, soaring from the glass with an exotic and stunningly complex bouquet of dark berries, plums, hoisin, smoked duck, dark chocolate, licorice and Chinese five spice, with just a touch of rose hip on the upper register. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, multidimensional and authoritative, with more mid-palate depth than the Richebourg, its attack more textural and layered. The tannins here are fine grained but firm—swathed in an ample core of plummy, almost savory fruit—and the finish is long and scintillating. Cropped at 25 hectoliters per hectare and harvested September 7 and 8.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2015 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked at 25.55hl/ha on 7 and 8 September. This has a fascinating bouquet. The stem addition seems a little more transparent than the other crus from the domaine. The La Tâche has darker fruit than the Richebourg mixed with black tea, bay leaf, a pinch of cracked black pepper and a slight bell pepper scent. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin on the entry, presaging a masculine and almost curmudgeonly La Tâche whereas in previous years it is comparatively amenable and open. It is long and deep, yet introspective until that jab of spice engages the senses on the finish. Interestingly, returning after 15 minutes the last third of this La Tâche manifests more depth and tension, a little more detail with hints of orange rind and more brown spices. It is a mercurial La Tâche as always, but would you want it any different? Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London.

vinous98

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

Bright, dark red. Ineffable nose and palate combine note of flowers, anisette and Asian spices with raspberry and pungent crushed-stone minerality. Wonderfully plush and penetrating, conveying uncanny inner-mouth clarity and lift and impressive reserve to its sappy core of fruit. Finishes with a strong spine of tannins but the wine's dark raspberry, espresso and mineral flavors continue to build after the tannins disappear on the palate. Like all of the 2015 grand crus at this address, this wine conveys a powerful impression of dry extract.

vinous98

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

(racked): Bright, saturated red. A bit darker on the nose than most of the foregoing '15s, offering highly complex yet somewhat somber scents of medicinal black cherry, licorice, violet, sandalwood and black tea. Then extremely primary in the middle palate, showing less early sweetness than the Richebourg but outstanding breadth and thickness and a texture of liquid silk. This seriously structured, very long, powerfully mineral wine finishes with major ripe tannins and chocolate and spice notes.