Historical LA ROMANEE tasting in Graz – 41 vintages

This vertical tasting of the smallest Burgundy Grand Cru (0,8452 ha) on 8 June 2012 in Graz was for sure of historical dimensions – definitely through the sheer size (41 bottles of La Romanée on the same evening) - if not by the age of the tasted vintages (1923-2010).

25 Burgundy lovers arrived from Germany, UK, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Hongkong and several cities in Austria, including the proprietor and wine-maker Louis-Michel Liger-Belair himself - and French wine collector Francois Audouze.

All wines had a fill of 1-4 cm, except where indicated.
Vintages 2002-2010: Domaine Comte Liger-Belair,
1976-2001: Bouchard Pere & Fils,
1966-1975: the usual Bichot label,
all others indicated.
All wines have been opened 5 ½ hours in advance – and were decanted only for 5-10 minutes. The points are mine.

1st flight.

1. 1988: medium bright ruby, excellent structure, long and persistent, still potential, 94p
2. 1995: good grip, perceptible acidity, youthful but a bit brittle (ungainy -spröd), 91p
3. 2004: quite bright mature colour, fine elegant nose with hints of ripe tomatoes and beetroot, slightly herbal, but very long, 93p
4. 1993: saturated, medium depth, good length and concentration, but a bit reserved, too young? 92+p?
5. 2006: slightly purple, sweet nose, very charming fruit, intense on the plaate, very balanced, 95p
   Groups winner: 2006, then 2004

2nd flight.
6) 1979: orange ruby, first a bit dusty, a bit tart and acidity showing, but rounded out nicely, 88p
7) 1970: quite bright orange, nice zests, intense and complex, beautiful to drink, only lacking a bit intensity, 91p
8) 1982: dark browning ruby, hints of lovage, good flow but a bit flat on the palate, 87p
9) 1972: full mature colour, lively, open and fragrant, fully mature, fine balance, 92p
10) 1976: full ripe colour, medium depth, long bit slightly rustic, 90p
Groups winner: 1972, then 1976

Amuse gueule

3rd flight:
11) 2000: youthful, quite intense and long, highly elegant, medium lengh, 92p
12) 1997: ruby with hints of orange, open, sweet and fine on the palate, fine balance, 93p
13) 2007: medium ruby, very nice fruity, charming, soft and feminine, but good length, 94p
14) 2003: darker ruby, dense, chewy, deep, still a bit closed, 96p
15) 2001: much brighter (than 14), ftruity, high acidity, quite rustic and ungainy, 91+?p
Groups winner: 2007, then 2003 very close

1st course: carpaccio and different jellies with styrian pumpkin oil

4th flight:
16) 1968: brown-orange, nice nose, some wet leaves and withered fruit, a bit flat on the palate, but nevertheless nice and much butter than expected, good drink, 85p
17) app.1920-1932, bottled by Marey and Liger-Belair, 6.6cm: yellow orange-brown-ruby, good intensity, very interesting if certainly far over apogee, long but a bit dry, hard to rate, but for lovers of very old wines 89-90p
18) 1973: the „darkest“ if bright ruby, really sound and balanced, if slightly masked nose and hints of dryness, very good, 88p
19) 1923, bottled by Leon Rigault, 7.5cm: colour of dark wood honey, hints of sherry, but not excessively, sweet, intense if slightly alcoholic, very complex often changing nose, not great, but highly interesting „aged“ experience, some 91-92p
20) 1957 (Leroy): full bricky ruby, fresh, nice definition, really good drink, long, 92p
21) 1975 – an addition or a subsitute resp.: really sound, classy Burg red and nose, slightly dry, but good structure and medium length, 87p
Groups winner: 1973, then 1957

2nd course: roasted liver with bananas

(to be continued)

Great tasting Gerhard! I have a few of those vintages in the cellar too…

Thanks for part 1, Gerhard, and waiting for the next installment. I hope you have the 1999, which is the only vintage I own.

Exciting tasting and very much to be expected from you. I salute your spirit in putting these tastings together. Excellent notes and I look forward to the rest.

Cheers,
fred

Can’t wait for part 2! Hoping you tasted the 96 as I somehow seem to own a mag of it.

How many bottles of each wine was there? 1 bottle (1 oz pour per person), or 2 bottles (2 oz per person), or more?

1 bottle each (completely impossible to find 2 of each).
25 people, but only 16 glasses to fill (9 shared a glass).
We used a measuring schnaps glass with an app. 0.043 liter marking.

Sure!
ALL vintages between 1982 and 2010 except 1984, 1987, 1994 (1991 not produced).

PART 2:

5th flight:
22) 1998: quite saturated, fruity with raspberries and herbs, mouthfilling, but a bit rustic and short, 90p
23) 2010: not too dark, but strong and youthful, structure showing, minerally, deep, great potential, 96p
24) 2008: more open, lots of dark fruits, tomatoe juice and cherries, really fine depth, 95+p
25) 1996: still a bit purple, spicy, minerally, tannic grip, but sweet and long, needs still a bit of time to sing, 94p
26) 2002: saturated ruby, very deep, a fruit ocean, powerful and soft at the same time, very complex and long, I love it, 98p
Groups winner: 2008, close 2002

6th flight:
27) 1986: deep mature colour, nose slightly muted (there was TCA suspicion, but I don´t think so), certainly not totally clean, but good texture, really satisfying – and one of the few good 1986s, 89p
28) 1983: mature (brown)-red, open complex nose, mushrooms and spicies, really long and attractive, if slightly dry on the finish, 93p
29) 1985: good colour, corky
30) 1992: full ruby, fruity and sweet, very nice soft texture, excellent persistency, 92p
31) 1978: very fine colour with underlying intense nose, alas cork, (Louis-Michel voted this as best wine of the flight despite TCA … sure principally he´s right, but sadly not this bottle) – NR
Groups winner: 1992, then 1983
(really bad luck with two corks in one flight – and moreover these vintages!)

Main course: Styrian root meat

7th flight:
32) 1990: medium mature red, very sweet fruity nose with underlying spicyness, fully mature but no hurry, intense and mouthfilling, 94p
33) 1989: very similar to 1990, but more youthful, more minerally driven, slightly longer, really fine texture, 95p
34) 2009: full ruby, a sea of red fruits, very sweet and deep, great complexity and perfect balance, (RP would call it „sexy“), potential for 98-99p
35) 1999: very classy in colour and nose, still a bit tannic, very intense and impressive, but not revealing everything, should earn 96-97p when mature
36) 2005: very saturated, fresh and primary, quite reserved, but huge concentration, seemed to be very deep, should reach 98-100p
Groups winner: 2009, then 1999

8th flight:
37) 1961 (Leroy) 5.1cm : very mature orange ruby, first a bit dusty which blew off, very elegant and sweet, feminine and fine, textbook mature Burg, 94p
38) 1966 – 4,4cm: slightly darker, the masculine version, still enough grip, not a charmer, but really fine, 93p
39) 1964 (bottled by Bichon/Margaux) 4.5cm: very orange ruby and mature, immense sweetness, soft bisquite cake with red fruits and Christmas spices, great finesse, 95p
40) 1969 – 5.2cm: darkest colour, also darker fruits, voluptuous and soft on the palate, a bit underwood and leather, very nice and elegant, totally mature, 94p
41) 1953 (Leroy-tastevinage) 2.8cm: full bright ruby, in comparison youthful, sweet with good grip, bags of red fruits, very intense, absolutely no hurry, 96p
Groups winner: 1969, very close 1953

Great selection of Austrian mature cheese

Sweet wines:
a) German Mosel-Riesling, Zeltinger Schlossberg Auslese, Maximilian Keilereien 1964: good, interesting, but a bit tired
b) Bonnezeaux 1974 Domaine de la Croix des Loges: quite bright, not too sweet, nice and lively
c) Rieussec 1985: very classy, sweet, quite clean
d) Welschriesling Essenz – Feiler-Artinger 2001 (Austria-Burgenland): very intense and sweet, very low alc.

Dessert variations

Great notes. Thank you. My epiphany wine was a la Romanee from the early 60s (don’t know the vintage). I was first learning about wine. My father had people to dinner and opened an Haut Brion. I had heard of first growths and was very excited to be trying one. Then, dad opened a second bottle. I asked him how a wine could be better than a first growth. In that way, I first heard of Burgundy, through a glass of la Romanee.

Cool. Thanks for the reply, Gerhard.

merci…

I think this was a really excellent opportunity to experience the unique character of La Romanée.

Now – how is it?

Well, I´d say: slightly less fleshy than Richebourg, less exotically perfumed than Romanee-St-Vivant, closer to La Tâche – if slightly more feminine, and less austere than a young Romanée-Conti, a melting pot of red and black fruits, spicy with underlying minerality, excellent structure which is always nicely integrated and balanced, great mouthfilling qualities, rarely rustic, with very fine sweetness when mature … and great complexity and finesse. Even in lessser vintages the balance and texture is usually fine. Ageability is enormous.
The older vintages – made by the Forey family – had sometimes a certain dry „stemmy“ edge, but there were also really fine efforts. The corks of 1964 to 1975 were extremely hard to pull, very fragile, soft and wet.
The vintages made by Louis-Michel (2002 -->) were another step upwards, more consistent, with sweeter (often red) fruit, very sweet and fine tannins (sometimes completely in the background), now and then with a lactic hint, perfect balance and great depth. (no question about ageability – they will outlive me by far).

Any comments?

I generally agree with you Gerhard.

I find that there is a clear resemblance to Romanée-Conti, which is right below, so that resemblance is not surprising. I find that La Romanée is a little lighter and perhaps expresses its minerality in a slightly different fashion – probably due to being higher on the hill and perhaps also because the vines run north-south while at Romanée-Conti they run east-west. There is an advantage to vegetal material and handling of the vineyard in Romanée-Conti because that has been a major focus for a long time at DRC, and probably only with Louis-Michel’s taking over has it begun to receive such attention at La Romanée. Although Romanée-Conti has the reputation of being austere when young that you note, the austerity has not been evident for some time in my experience.

As one continues up the hill, Reignots is in many ways to La Romanée as La Romanée is to Romanée-Conti; that is, still lighter and more mineral, again probably the effect of being still higher on the hill. It is only relatively recently, with the climate change, that Reignots could begin to achieve its full potential; previously, most vintages probably were too cold to allow for best expression there.

Gerhard - Thank you for sharing your notes from this very special tasting. I had much interest in reading through the notes so as to compare with my one vintage experience with this monopole. My experience relates to a few bottles of the 1990 vintage that I had between 2005-2008 when Bouchard was making the wine. My impression was a delicate medium-light bodied wine that was pleasant but not stellar. At the time I recall Bouchard had some significant post fermentation processing going on with La Romanee that I attributed to stripping out complexity. Your notes suggest that if I had waited a few more years I might have seen a better expression of the wine. I would dearly love to taste good examples from the Liger-Belair era. Thank you again for sharing…Gary

Well done Gerhard
It seems we have a new era of consistency and performance under Louis-Michel…

Howard, this is really a very lovely story !!!
(could you remember the label? One of the yellow Bichot labels from 1963 onwards - or maybe a Leroy one?)

great notes Gerhard, but no 71 ?
Cheers
Rainer

Great notes Gerhard!

Beautiful tasting and notes Gerhard! Those old Leroy La Romanee are something else. I was lucky enough to drink a 1955 out of Berns cellar a couple of years ago. Needless to say it was monumental and a definitive example of the heights Burgundy can reach. Thanks again.