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OK, the picture has given it away, but was it obvious to you what wine the title was referring to? It gives Petrus a run-for-it as the most expensive bottle, but when it comes to the wine which has the most history and that people are most passionate about there is nothing to touch Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC). Eric Asimov gives a hint of the passion that DRC creates.

In my continued review of investable wine we arrive in Burgundy. I’m splitting this into two posts: DRC and others. Burgundy is a difficult region for Winevestors; the production of the top producers is minuscule, the prices are very high, there is a great variability of quality even by established producers, there are a lot of dud vintages, and there are many, many producers. This complexity means that it is a tough terrain for Winevestors.

In this rough investment landscape there is one domain that rises above all of its neighbors like a mountain: DRC. A later post will deal with the few other Winevestor Burgundies.

DRC, or wine produced in this area, goes back in fable to Roman times (hence the name). Rather than give a blow by blow history, check out the best online DRC history I found surprisingly from a restaurant - Oceanique.

DRC Sound Bites

Louis XIV, the Sun King, had a miraculous recovery from an un-sunny anal fistula through a prescription of ‘La Romanée’.
In the 18^th Century the estate was purchased by Prince de Conti, a relative to the King of France, who immediately appended his name to the estate, and kept the whole production of the estate for himself. It is good to be a Prince!
The Romanée-Conti vineyard was bought in 1869 by Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet, who build the Domaine we know today with the acquisition of the holdings in Echézeaux, Grands Echézeaux and Richebourg.
Two of DRC’s vineyards, Romanée-Conti and La Tâche, are monopoles – the Domaine owns the whole vineyard.
Burgundy is notoriously dependent on the rain. Often bad weather can wash out a vintage. DRC have a great record even in bad years. This is largely due to the extra-ordinary amount of attention and person-power applied to the task.
Americans use the acronym DRC. Europeans find this disrespectful and inevitably call it the full Domaine de la Romanée-Conti or just ‘the Domaine’. I’m using DRC in this post, not through disrespect, but otherwise this would be a very long post.
DRC often harvest their grapes later than any other domaine – a risky business aimed at reaching the full potential of the fruit. There are photos of the harvest in snow!
DRCs are built for the long term. In a good vintage they should be cellared for at least 20 to 30 years; even in a light vintage it should be 15 years. As a result the vast majority of DRC is drunk too young.
A tasting for the very rich would be to compare Domaine Leroy to DRC in the two vineyards that they both have holdings: Richebourg and Romanée Saint-Vivant.
The yields are so low at DRC that three vines produce one bottle of wine.
If you are lucky enough to taste through the DRCs, the traditional order is in the table below, finishing up with the white Montrachet.

DRC Managers

There are two main shareholder groups who own DRC. Each group of shareholders of Domaine have identified a manager who represents their interests. Originally Aubert de Villaine and Lalou Bize-Leroy were the managers, but both are strong personalities in their different ways. De Villaine is humble, academic and detailed; Bize-Leroy is extrovert, ambitious and detailed. Not surprisingly the partnership failed in 1992 and today Aubert de Villaine has a co-manager Henri Roch (Bize-Leroy’s nephew), although 9/13/2009 | Investing | Post comments | View comments | (0)