In Burgundy, between Gevrey and Vougeot,
the plot called Romanée-Conti has at first glance
nothing extraordinary. Did not Stendhal use to say " Whithout
those magnificent wines, I would think nowhere in the world is
uglier".
Romanée-Conti covers about 1,8 hectares. It is exposed
south at the limit of the Richebourg. Its ground contain a very
fine clay which does not exist in the neighbouring plots. The
natural draining is perfect.
The plot Romanée-Conti was traced during the XVth century,
and maybe earliest in the XIIth century by the monks of Saint-Viviant.
You must imagine the Pinot Noir the
monks collected in Burgundy forests and very carefully selected;
any how it does not give satisfactory results any where, except
there.
The result his a subtile equation between grape, soil, climate,
orientation and watering. The legend pretends that, until 1945,
a good vine-plant was sacrificed and buried, just living two shoots
out, developing itself it gave two new vine-plants. When the vineyard
was reconstituted, intricate roots more than a meter deep where
discovered. It was from that mulch that the new vine-plants had
drawn the specific feature of Romanée-Conti.
"We are the keeper of a certain philosophy of wine and, mainly,
we are concern by the perfection in details" assures Aubert de
Vilaine, one of the owners of the place with the Leroys.
Those two families also look after 25 hectares of some of the
most famous Burgundy crus. Thus, the
client must aqcuire the wines of the domains by boxes of twelve,
which means one bottle of Romanée-Conti among 11 bottles
of other domains. A box of twelve bottles is worth about 3,000
Euros.
Other legendary
wines in France: Château Margaux
- Pétrus
Learn more:
Vosne Romanée
