Drinking Window: 2026-2075
Here the nose is very much in that young RC mode of 'don't bother me' as it requires aggressive swirling to grudgingly reveal smoky and overtly floral suffused aromas of plum, cassis, spiced tea and sandalwood. The gorgeously sleek medium weight plus flavors possess a wonderfully seductive mouthfeel along with plenty of minerality that also suffuses the splendidly long and beautifully well-balanced if youthfully austere finale. Like the La Tâche this spherical effort is also very much built to age and is a wine that is going to require the better part of three decades to realize its full potential. While it is very much fraught to be making projections about all-time great vintages of RC when there have been so many over the storied history of this wine, I would say that the '16 is RC quite simply breathtakingly good and for me it's the wine of the vintage.
99+; Burghound
The 2016 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru is a worthy successor to the profound 2015, wafting from the glass with aromas of wild berries, violets, peony, dark chocolate, cinnamon and exotic spices. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, ample and satiny, with an ineffable sense of completeness, searing concentration without weight, a vibrant, indeed animating line of acidity, and a long, expansive finish that concludes with a judicious touch of mouthwatering bitterness. Wines like this are the foundation of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti's reputation
100 POINTS
WILLIAM KELLEY - WINE ADVOCATE
The 2016 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru was picked on September 25 at 24hL/ha. As usual, I allowed it five or six minutes to open in the glass. It is a very subtle Romanée-Conti, more discreet than the 2016 La Tâche, but then you become entranced by its spellbinding purity and grace. It gradually builds aromatically, augmenting the black fruit with red, and developing scents of wild hedgerow and freshly tilled soil - almost a pastoral element. The palate is medium-bodied with extremely precise and fine tannin and notes of wild strawberry, cranberry and crushed limestone. This feels very harmonious, the texture silkier than the La Tâche, displaying just a touch of bay leaf and black pepper toward the sustained finish, which gains depth and grip with aeration. Exquisite, though I suspect the La Tâche will challenge it for supremacy. 440 cases produced. Tasted at Corney & Barrow’s annual in-bottle tasting in London. NM 2/2019
