2006 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Montrachet

(96 points) Aubert de Villaine and his team harvested their 2006 Montrachet on September 26, and it was bottled (as a single assemblage) at the end of 2007. High-toned peach, lemon oil, musk, and floral aromas mark the penetrating, ethereal nose. Smoky, peach kernel pungency weaves its way through nutty, peachy richness on the palate. Less obviously dense, rich and sappy than the extraordinary 2005, this 2006 for all of its sheer viscosity and ripeness, displays a dynamic, almost shimmering sense of fruit and mineral interplay. Intriguingly, in my initial – November, 2007 tasting – this effect was more pronounced from a barrel that had been rolled to disburse the lees than in one that had undergone conventional batonnage. The youthful 2006 reflects its new wood environment in a way that the 2005 – at similar stages in its evolution – did not. There is no lack here of the mystery that should be expected from one of the world’s most fabled and expensive wines, not just in the paradox of viscosity, richness and power combined with elegance, lift, and refinement; but also in nuances that left me groping the lexicon for animal or mineral descriptors. Wine Advocate #180 Dec 2008