Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Richebourg Grand Cru 2015

vinous97

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2015 Richebourg Grand Cru was picked at 24.34hl/ha on 8 and 9 September. I fully agree with Aubert de Villaine who told me that the Richebourg vineyard has really stepped up a gear in recent years. This is very complex, profound even, a deep well of red berry fruit, crushed flowers, iris and wet loamy soil. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins that disguise the arching structured underneath. There is enormous depth and persistence to this Richebourg and yet the finish is balletic in poise with an extraordinarily persistence, slightly saline on the aftertaste. Magnificent. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London.

vinous96

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

Healthy dark red. Very ripe, highly complex aromas and flavors of raspberry, smoky soil tones, dried flowers and musky mocha and coffee. At once utterly seamless and youthfully imploded in the middle palate, this wine initially impressed for its energy and thrust, then gained in pliancy and sweetness with time in the glass. Still, this is a more masculine style than the RSV, finishing backward and penetrating, with its powerful tannins currently cutting off the fruit. A bit uncompromising in the early going but has the stuffing to give it great potential for a glorious and extended evolution in bottle.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

(racked): Full dark red. Aromas of dark cherry, plum, mocha and earth are complemented by sexy oak spices and lifted by a floral element. Dense, plush and sweet; almost nectar-like and utterly seamless. For all its flesh and size, this thick wine conveys an impression of elegance. Really amazing sucrosité here and outstanding mounting length. But it's hard to believe that this normally backward cuvée won't shut down in bottle.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2015 Richebourg Grand Cru was picked on 8 and 9 September at 24 hectoliters per hectare. It took its time to open up despite rigorous coaxing - more so than the Romanée Saint Vivant (although it is usually thus). Eventually it offers a very precise but broody nose, slightly darker fruit than the Romanée Saint Vivant: blackberry, cranberry leaf, a hint of damp moss on a late October morning. The palate has stunning balance and is underpinned by filigree tannin. There appears to be slightly more red fruit than the nose suggests and it segues into a structured and imperious, conspicuously saline finish that lingers for more than a minute in the mouth. This is a regal Richebourg.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: William Kelley

The 2015 Richebourg Grand Cru is very good indeed, offering up a pure and surprisingly expressive nose of strawberry, dried rose, plum preserve, roast squab, raw cocoa and incipient rich soil tones, framed by some nutty new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, multidimensional and rich, sweet fruit playing in counterpoint with sapid, savory nuance. This Richebourg is denser at the core and less expansive than the corresponding Romanée-St-Vivant, and though the grain of its tannins is similar, their impact is more assertive and muscular. Cropped at 24 hectoliters per hectare and harvested September 8 and 9.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

The 2015 Richebourg Grand Cru was picked at 24.34hl/ha on 8 and 9 September. I fully agree with Aubert de Villaine who told me that the Richebourg vineyard has really stepped up a gear in recent years. This is very complex, profound even, a deep well of red berry fruit, crushed flowers, iris and wet loamy soil. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins that disguise the arching structured underneath. There is enormous depth and persistence to this Richebourg and yet the finish is balletic in poise with an extraordinarily persistence, slightly saline on the aftertaste. Magnificent. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in bottle tasting in London.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2015 Richebourg Grand Cru is very good indeed, offering up a pure and surprisingly expressive nose of strawberry, dried rose, plum preserve, roast squab, raw cocoa and incipient rich soil tones, framed by some nutty new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, multidimensional and rich, sweet fruit playing in counterpoint with sapid, savory nuance. This Richebourg is denser at the core and less expansive than the corresponding Romanée-St-Vivant, and though the grain of its tannins is similar, their impact is more assertive and muscular. Cropped at 24 hectoliters per hectare and harvested September 8 and 9.