Tasting DRC wines ---- November 16, 17, 18, 2001

I always had in mind doing a definitive tasting of the DRC wines. But back in the summer of 2001 as I was starting to plan the event, I was growing a bit apprehensive. I didn't know how many people would be willing to pay the high cost of tasting the DRCs which are, arguably, among the world's most expensive wines.

I also had a second worry : with today's emphasis on extraction, power and color I was concerned if there was an audience left any more that appreciated elegance and subtlety, because DRC's, like all great Burgundies, were just that.

I decided to go ahead with the tasting anyway. I thought of serving only single bottles of each wine hoping that I will have enough people to attend just from the pool of close friends I already had. The tasting was scheduled over three sessions on November 16, 17, 18, 2001.

Imagine then my surprise when messages started pouring in with requests to attend the tasting in numbers far greater than I had anticipated. I was now panicked because it was clear that single bottles wouldn't do. I succeeded in getting second bottles for about three-fourths of the wines but, for the rest, I had to cajole people to share them with their neighbors at the table.

Did they come because they understood Burgundy and all that it involves? Most definitely. That became clear time after time at the tasting as the participants got up to comment about the individual wines.

They also came because of DRC and its reputation. For this they were amply rewarded.

I wanted to confine the tasting to only the best that DRC made--fortunately, having tasted almost all the top DRCs of the last century, I knew what to pick.

And yet, the tasting would be incomplete, I felt, if I did not have at least one session that would give us some idea of other vintages, those that were not conventionally classified as great, but only fair. The only way to do it and keep the tasting manageable was to serve wines that did not carry a very high price-tag and, at the same time, represented the core qualities of the Domaine. Grands Echezeaux was the obvious answer since it had all those qualifications, plus the fact that the vineyard has some of the oldest vines ideal for long life. So out of the three days of tastings the first day was devoted to a vertical of Grands Echezeaux of selected vintages from 1945 to 1998.

The Montrachets from DRC were also served. They were distributed throughout the three sessions, each session having a good sampling of the top vintages.

As is usually the custom at my tastings, the wines were served with food, at restaurants Melisse and Spago. The breakdown of the wines at each session is enclosed.

Almost all the wines came from private collectors, with cellars where wines were meticulously kept. About a fourth came from me, others from collectors most of whom were attending the tasting. Only a total of six bottles were bought from the open market.

The first commercial vintage of Montrachet was 1965, though there was a 1964 made that was not released to the public. But it is the 1966 which I believe is the greatest they ever made--1966 was actually a great vintage throughout white burgundy, still holding up nicely if you can come upon a well preserved bottle. Luckily, in the years gone by, I have had the wine a few times but, unfortunately, couldn't find a bottle that I could vouch for to serve at the tasting. The 1969 is good too, though not at the level of 1966, but it was also not available. The rest of the top vintages were well represented at the tasting.

For the red variety, 1915 and 1923 are two of the greatest vintages from the early part of the last century. Hard as it may be to believe, but well kept bottles of these two vintages can still be excellent---and I am not speaking of just the DRC. In future issues I will write about tasting a number of fascinating 1915s and 1923s.

We did not have any 1915 vintage, but we did have 1923 La Tache, which was the oldest wine at the tasting. But, after all the big introduction I gave above, I am embarrassed to say that it was oxidised ! The first time I had the La Tache from this vintage was at restaurant Tan Dinh in Paris. The owner, Robert Vifian, who knows well the real "passionate" wine connoisseurs who come to his restaurant, served it to me some ten years ago which was then still incredibly youthful and an amazing wine.

Three other old vintages also stand out: 1919, 1929 and 1937. We did not have them at the tasting but we had almost all the great vintages since, beginning with 1945.

On the whole the conditions of the bottles were very good, reflecting the true character of the wines

Eight of the participants, all experienced tasters, who had attended all three sessions, were kind enough to send me their notes (a few just had numerical scores without the narration). This panel consisted of: Ben Addoms, John Brincko, Jim Gaby, Allan Ghazarian, Jim Israel, Marshall Katz, Michael LaTondre, and Edward Lazarus.

There wasn't a complete unanimity of opinions among them, of course, because tasting wine is always very personal. Besides, in my 25 years of tastings, I have yet to come across a situation where one didn't find some controversy whenever Burgundies were involved.

And still there were quite a number of wines for which the opinions were very close. Below I mention just a couple.

The 1978 Romanee Conti was one where the comments were both unanimous and effusive. Echoing what was in everyone's mind, Allan Ghazarian, one of the panelists wrote "This may well be the best wine I have ever tasted in my sixteen years of wine tasting. What a beauty, an incredible nose of the tell tale asian spices and black cherries. An almost ethereal mouthfeel with flavors and textures that caress and entice. Every facet of this wine is perfect. It was a privilege to taste it"

In arranging the tasting I make a conscious attempt so the quality goes up as we step up from one flight of wines to the next--until we arrive at a crescendo in the final flight. Knowing the DRCs well, I put in the final flight, on the final day of the tasting, the following,
1962 La Tache
1962 Romanee Conti
1971 La Tache
1971 Romanee Conti
1978 La Tache
1978 Romanee Conti
1990 La Tache
1990 Romanee Conti.

This provided one of the clearest statements about the extraordinary heights that the Domaine can reach. Ben Addoms, one of the panelists, summarized it eloquently when he said "This last flight for me was the greatest of my life. I have enjoyed some truly remarkable wines in my life, but these together are an argument for why La Tache and Romanee Conti from DRC are the world's greatest red wines".

He spoke for all of us.

Aubert de Villaine, DRC's proprietor sent his regrets at not being able to come to the event but he told me what he had heard about the tasting from the person who attended on his behalf, Jack Daniels, from DRC's exclusive distribution company in the U.S., Wilson Daniels. De Villaine wrote "------Jack says that it is perhaps the greatest tasting he has ever attended".

My tasting notes are enclosed, including the 1999 vintage which I tasted a few months after this tasting. Along with these notes, for each vintage, I have included descriptions on the vintage conditions based on the notes supplied to me by Aubert de Villaine.

My scores are not averages of the ratings of the panel members; neither do my descriptions necessarily reflect any of theirs. Along with the numerical scores I have also given ratings in terms of stars.

Separately, I have also listed the wines sorted by their ratings.

1a. DRC reds with vintage conditions, sorted by vintage

1b. DRC reds, sorted by rating

1c. DRC Montrachet, sorted by rating

1d. DRC Wines Tasted by Tasting Session