Domaine Romanee Conti (DRC), inarguably Burgundy's most revered producer, forgoes the annual en primeur campaign each January. A month after the rest of Burgundy have packed up their tasting samples and boarded the plane back to Lyon, the new vintage (in this case 2007) is tasted by the world's press and then strictly allocated to loyal customers on a bottle-by-bottle basis.
The 2007 vintage was released at the same price as the 2006 to UK collectors: ranging from £895 a six-pack for the Echezeaux (there is no Duvault Blochet this year) to £7,795 for Romanee Conti. Although these prices are more or less immaterial unless you are among the fortunate few to receive a direct allocation. For those forced to hunt for stock on the secondary market, the cost of back vintages is likely to be a better guide to eventual pricing (sign up to a Liv-ex Cellar Watch package to check current prices).
Always produced in small quantities (the estate covers only 1.8 hectares), the annual production was particularly tiny in 2007, ranging from 1,143 cases of La Tache to 400 of Romanee Conti. In a good year, the estate would expect to produce around a quarter as much again.
So what did the critics make of the wines? Below are the scores from Jancis Robinson MW (JR), Neal Martin (MR), Allen Meadows (AM) and Stephen Tanzer (ST). All tasted the wines in the last month or two, apart from for Tanzer (May '09).
It would appear that the vintage is deemed marginally inferior to 2006 and is perhaps on a par with 2004. Those interested in further reading are urged to read Neal Martin's excellent report. Corney & Barrow (the UK agent) have also written up the tasting on their blog.
