From Saint-Vivant to the Prince de Conti

The history of the vineyard begins with the priory of Saint-Vivant, founded around 900 by Manassès, lord of Vergy. In 1131 Duke Hugues II of Burgundy gave the monks his woods and waste land at Vosne and Flagey, including the ground of the future vineyard. The priory sold the plot, then called the Cros des Cloux, in 1584. It appears in writing as la Romanée for the first time in 1651. In 1760 it was bought for Louis-François de Bourbon, prince de Conti, a prince of the blood. Three years later he bought two neighbouring plots at the Goillotte to build cellars and a house for his vigneron. The Revolution confiscated the vineyard, and the name Romanée-Conty first appears in its valuation of 1794. It was sold at auction at the end of that year.

Two families since 1869

Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet, a grower and merchant from Santenay, bought Romanée-Conti in 1869 at the age of 79. He already owned vines in Richebourg, Grands-Échezeaux and Échezeaux. The vineyard stayed with his descendants. In 1942 the estate became the Société Civile du Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and one heir, Jacques Chambon, sold his shares to Henri Leroy, a grower and merchant from Auxey-Duresses. The Gaudin de Villaine family has held the other half since then, represented in turn by Edmond, Henri and Aubert de Villaine. Two co-managers run the estate, one for each family. Aubert de Villaine shared the role with Lalou Bize-Leroy from 1974 to 1991. Charles Roch followed her in 1992, and his brother Henry-Frédéric took over after his death that same year. After Henry-Frédéric Roch died in 2018, Perrine Fenal, the daughter of Lalou Bize-Leroy, was appointed in January 2019. Bertrand de Villaine, at the domaine since 2008, succeeded his uncle Aubert in December 2021.

Two monopoles and seven other grands crus

The domaine owns the whole of Romanée-Conti, 1.814 hectares, and of La Tâche, 6.062 hectares, which joined the estate in 1933. Nearby, on the slopes of Vosne-Romanée and Flagey, it farms 3.511 hectares of Richebourg and 5.286 hectares of Romanée-Saint-Vivant. That vineyard was leased from the last of the Marey-Monge family in 1966 and bought in 1988. Then come 3.526 hectares of Grands-Échezeaux and 4.674 hectares of Échezeaux. In the Côte de Beaune, the domaine has owned vines in Montrachet since 1963 and holds 0.676 hectare there. Since November 2008 it has leased 2.275 hectares of Corton from Domaine Prince Florent de Mérode, in the Clos du Roi, Bressandes and Renardes. The first harvest came in 2009. In November 2018 it took on 2.913 hectares of Corton-Charlemagne under a sharecropping lease, first harvested in 2019.

In the vines and the cellar

The domaine has never stopped ploughing its soils, and part of the vineyard is worked with a horse. The domaine has farmed organically since 1985. It trialled biodynamics from 1990 to 2006, adopted it afterwards and gained Biodyvin certification in 2016. Romanée-Conti and about one hectare of Richebourg stayed on their own roots until 1945, protected from phylloxera with carbon disulphide. Cuttings from these old vines supplied later plantings, and the domaine has selected some thirty lines of small-berried Pinot Noir for replanting. Pickers sort in the vineyard, and the grapes are sorted again on a table at the winery. Whole bunches make up at least 60 percent of each vat, and can reach 100 percent in very ripe years. Fermentation lasts about three weeks. Every wine is aged in new oak, in barrels made mainly by François Frères from staves the domaine buys and seasons at Saint-Romain. Bernard Noblet became cellar master in 1984, and Alexandre Bernier succeeded him.

The character of each cru

The domaine describes each wine in its own words. Romanée-Conti is velvet, seduction and mystery. La Tâche joins elegance and vigour, often behind firm tannins. Richebourg is said to have the silkiness of its neighbour Romanée-Conti and the firmness of La Tâche. Romanée-Saint-Vivant charms first, and its power only shows later. Grands-Échezeaux brings to mind moss, dead leaves and game. Échezeaux is the earliest of the domaine's wines to open and the least complex, with a firm frame that lets it age with grace. The domaine adds that its Échezeaux is, each year, the first wine to show the character of the vintage. Jasper Morris writes that Duvault-Blochet argued for picking late to reach full ripeness, and that his descendants have kept to it.

Reading a bottle of the domaine

The label names the Société Civile du Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, owner at Vosne-Romanée, then the cru and its appellation. It also gives the number of bottles harvested, the bottle's own number and the year, with the names of the two co-managers. On its website the domaine publishes the number of bottles harvested for each cru and year, for most crus since 1953. It has also warned publicly about counterfeit bottles, so the provenance of any bottle matters as much as its label. The wines above are the domaine's bottles in our cellar. See also the grands crus of Burgundy and the full range of Burgundy wines.