Vintage Burgundy Wine Tasting featuring DRC and Leroy

"Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine." 
Genesis 27:28

Unfortunately, god did not give us plenty of Domaine de La Romanee Conti.  One of the reasons that this is one of the most expensive wines on the planet earth is that they only make a few hundred cases of each of these Grand Cru wines from any vintage.  The other reason is that they have had a thousand years of marketing in the wine industry.  There are not many regions of the wine world that have the history of Burgundy's Cote D'Or and with that history comes a very high price tag.

On Thursday November 19th here at the Wine Watch Wine Bar two of Burgundy's elite will face off!  This will be a "Once in a Lifetime" tasting to remember!!  Join us as we experience four wines from each of these legendary producers going back to the 1978 vintage.  We are only taking 10 tasters for this event and that includes me so 9 seats are available.  The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $2250 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

DRC versus Leroy Tasting
Thursday, November 19th
7:30 PM

1978 Mason Leroy Beaune 1er Cru Les Sizies
2002 Domaine Leroy Clos Vougeot Grand Cru
2004 Domaine Leroy Bourgogne Rouge
2007 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges Aux Lavières
1982 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru
1992 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru
1996 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee Saint Vivant Grand Cru
2001 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Echezeaux Grand Cru
2004 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee Saint Vivant Grand Cru

Menu

Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Foie Gras Torchon with Cherry Jelly and Brioche Toast
Seared Veal Carpaccio with black truffle and Bond Olive Oil Drizzle
Sous Vide Duck Breast with Veal cherry demi Glaze and Duck Prosciutto Country Mash
Epoisses and Cherry tart

This event is $2250 + tax per person + tax and there are only 10 seats available for this “Once in a Lifetime” Burgundy lover’s event.  For reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions when you make your reservation and chef Toni will be happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Domaine de La Romanee Conti:

Probably one of the most sought after wines by collectors of fine Burgundies are the wines of Domaine De La Romanée Conti (also called simply DRC).  They carry a sort of mystique about them that you only find in collectibles such as a Picasso, or a Rembrant- things that only an elite few can afford to own and even fewer really appreciate.  

Talk of Lafite or Mouton or the upstart Petrus pales in significance when one considers that this precious piece of earth was a sacred spot five centuries before the first words were ever written about claret.  Consider, for example, the significance of that crisp, fall day in 1241 when the landscape was red with the color of wine, and the air was laden with the smell of it.  The monks gathered in their Abbey at the Vosne and decided to sell the vineyard of Romanée-Conti.  They had owned it for almost 200 years and it was a monumental event when it returned to private hands.  Over the ensuing centuries, inheritance laws and the wave of anti-clericism that followed the French Revolution caused the great growths of Burgundy to be divided into a thousand meager plots.  So sacred was the vineyard of Romanée-Conti, that it never once sub-divided through nine changes of ownership.

The vineyard was once called La Romanée until it was purchased by the Prince de Conti in 1760.  De Conti acquired the vineyard only after a great struggle.  The other contestant was King Louis the Fourteenth’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour.  The prince held a banquet to celebrate the acquisition; underscoring the significance of the event was the fact that it was attended by figures such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau; even a very young Mozart was there to play the harpsichord.  When the Conti fled France during the revolution, Romanée-Conti changed hands several more times – among its owners was Napoleon’s banker.

Today’s proprietors, the Leroys and the De Villaines, have run the Domaine jointly since 1942.  After an emotional power struggle, Aubert De Villaine, who has co-managed the Domaine for 19 years, has emerged from the shadows of the ubiquitous and flamboyant Madame Bize Leroy (who was booted out by the De Villaines and other members of the Leroy family for alleged conflicts of interest).

Many critics, in describing these wines, talk of the continuity of house style and the winemaking genius of the Domaine.  The quietly purposeful Aubert De Villaine takes a little credit for the greatness of these wines.  He speaks of the “genius of the terroir” and of the Domaine’s efforts to keep the winemaking as simple and natural as possible.  American viticulturists may think they have a corner on organic farming, but De Villaine notes that the Domaine’s wines are 100 percent organic.  There are no sprays or pesticides used in the vineyard.  Although De Villaine pays homage to technology and talks of clonal research, he stresses that everything is done to ensure as little manipulation of the wine is done as possible.  Except for the 100 percent new oak, which is used with every one of the Domaine’s wines and the fact that as of 1995 the wines are no longer bottled by barrel (which critics claimed caused bottle variation), one gets the impression that things are done much in the same manner as they were 100 years ago.  De Villaine is succinct:  “There is more to be learned in what not to do than there is in what to do.  Nothing is more difficult than to be simple”.

There are some wine writers that feel there is somewhat of a secret when it comes to the wines of this fabled estate.  Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate has stated that the Domaine’s use of lightly toasted François Frères barrels (the preferred source for most of the great estates of the Côte d’Or), which are air dried for three years prior to use, could have something to do with it.  However, Bernard Noblet, the cellar master, has assured that they are neither steam cleaned nor are they rubbed with any special ointments as speculation has suggested. 

La Tâche is entirely owned by Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, a fact that makes it a "monopole."  The domaine has exclusive rights on a second vineyard -- the grand cru Romanee-Conti itself.  It's almost joined at the hip with La Tache; they are within a stone's throw of one another. And just like the great grands crus from the Côte d'Or, Burgundy's "golden slope," both vineyards are well-drained and exposed to the east-southeast; both tilt down gently on the hillside toward the stone walls surrounding Vosne-Romanee.  This village lies in the center of the Cote de Nuits, and its grands crus are the sirloin cut of red Burgundy country: no sinewy tannins, just a marbling of smooth texture.  The wines made here are famous for their spicy, perfumy nose, highlighted by cinnamon and earthy notes that rely more on spices than red or black fruits.

Everything we have in the store from these two great producers.

 
1969 Domaine De La Romanee Conti Romanee Conti Grand Cru
Price: $22500.00                Sale Price: $19500.00      Quantity in Stock: 1
1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti Grand Cru
Price: $20000.00                Sale Price: $15000.00      Quantity in Stock: 1
1990 Domaine de La Romanee Conti Romanee Conti Grand Cru
Price: $27500.00                Your Price: $24200.00     Quantity in Stock: 1
1995 Domaine De La Romanee Conti Romanee Conti Grand Cru
Price: $21500.00                Your Price: $18920.00     Quantity in Stock: 1
1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti
Price: $23500.00                Your Price: $20680.00     Quantity in Stock: 1
2014 Domaine De La Romanee Conti Romanee Conti
Price: $23500.00                Sale Price: $18000.00      Quantity in Stock: 1
2015 Domaine De La Romanee Conti Romanee Conti Grand Cru
Price: $25000.00                Sale Price: $19500.00      Quantity in Stock: 2

1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru
Price: $5500.00  Your Price: $4840.00        Quantity in Stock: 2
1997 Domaine de la Romanee Conti La Tache Grand Cru
Price: $4900.00  Your Price: $4312.00        Quantity in Stock: 4
2006 Domaine de la Romanee Conti La Tache Grand Cru
Price: $4900.00  Your Price: $4312.00        Quantity in Stock: 1

1998 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee St. Vivant Grand Cru
Price: $3000.00  Sale Price: $2400.00         Quantity in Stock: 1
2016 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee Saint Vivant Grand Cru
Price: $2995.00  Your Price: $2635.60        Quantity in Stock: 6

My love for Burgundy becomes greater with every bottle that I open and I have been opening a lot of Burgundy lately.  Leroy is considered the best of the best as far as Burgundy is considered and this is the first time that I have been able to offer a comprehensive list of wines from this Maison/Domaine.   We have the very first vintage of the Domaine wines on this offering from the 1988 vintage as well as a good selection of Maison offerings.  The Maison offering are from some of the best vineyards in Burgundy and have been brought through elevage and have been cellared with meticulous care giving you a wine that has been cared for perfectly until it arrives to your cellar.  

Here is what a few of the critics have said about Leroy:

"In her wines, Lalou seeks a magnified delineation of flavors. Each wine offers a kaleidoscope of sensation, each of which is distinct from the other with no blurring or muddiness. Because of this, it is virtually impossible to mistake one vineyard for another in a Domaine Leroy wine. Lalou seeks a degree of purity, allied to extraordinary concentration, that is almost unmatched by any other producer." - Matt Kramer, LA Times

"Her wines are exactly what they should be as expressions of the terroirs from which they come." - Robert Finigan

"I have said it so many times that it may seem redundant, but " let me repeat it- Lalou Bize-Leroy stands alone at the top of Burgundy’s quality hierarchy. Because she is a perfectionist, and because she has the courage to produce wines from low yield and bottle them naturally, without fining or filtration." - Robert Parker

A bit of History about Maison/Domaine Leroy:

More than a century ago, in 1868, Francois Leroy founded Maison Leroy in Auxey-Duresses, a small village in Burgundy near Meursault. Throughout the years, Leroy has remained a traditional family business. LaLou Bize-Leroy joined the family business in 1955. With great devotion and a lot of work, through constant tastings, she undertook to understand the essential characteristics of each terroir from each vineyard of Burgundy. For Leroy she searches unceasingly to purchase the best.

As a result Leroy cellars a prestigious inventory, which led Jacques Puisais, famous oenologist and great connoisseur, to write "here we are at the Louvre Museum . These are cultural moments about wine and its language. It is a place of reference for great works of the vine." Additionally, Leroy was the distributor of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti wines until January 1st 1992. The Leroy family still owns 50% of the shares.

The wines of Domaine Leroy are produced through the bio-dynamic method. This method prohibits the use of all chemicals, including weed killers, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, moreover it reintroduces the importance of the knowledge of the earth’s cycles and essential cosmic rhythms throughout the year. In short, every effort is made to extract the quintessence from the grapes.

2004 Leroy Bourgogne Rouge
Price: $3000.00  Your Price: $2640.00        Quantity in Stock: 4