Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2011 retrospective

A recent celebration of the lunar new year 2023 (the year of the rabbit) brought to mind a thought-provoking tasting of the red wines produced at the Domaine de la Romanée -Conti during the last year of the rabbit, 2011.

Red is an auspicious colour, symbolising happiness, good fortune, and vitality. Although red winemakers were probably not feeling too fortunate at the end of the tumultuous 2011 harvest, some ultimately produced wines of great beauty.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2011 wines

The 2011 vintage initially met with a lukewarm reception from critics and buyers. Following the exceptional harvests of 2009 and 2010, the wines from 2011 struggled for recognition.

Although the year began well, conditions in July and August led many growers to despair with cool temperatures and abundant rain. Fortunately, the fine weather returned in September in time to complete the ripening for the harvest. Initial reports used words like ‘challenging’ and ‘difficult’ to describe the conditions and labeled the wines as light, green, and lacking substance. However, the growers who knew how to avoid the pitfalls of the vintage produced elegant, vibrant wines.

Luck and skill

Despite a recent string of splendid weather, Burgundy lovers have long had to accept the challenging nature of Burgundy’s climate. The saving grace, however, is that the results can be spectacularly good even under challenging conditions. I was reminded of this anew as I tasted through this retrospective horizontal. The wines were delightful – singing and expressive – and still youthful and full of promise nearly a dozen years after the harvest, teaching us never to write off the work of great winemakers, even in difficult years.

Aubert de Villaine has remarked, ‘There are no bad vintages for Romanée-Conti, just vintages with different characteristics.’ Despite this sanguine view, he was also quoted near the 2011 vintage as saying, ‘Never more than this year…have I felt or understood to this degree the importance of luck and a wager in the success or failure of the vigneron in the face of a vintage.’ Luck is no doubt an element, but the consummate skill of the team at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti must not be discounted either.

Spring was warm and dry, provoking an early bud break and rapid growth. According to the BIVB, rainfall was half of a typical year, and there was enough sunshine and heat to ensure that both the bud break and flowering were three weeks ahead of the norm. Sunny, dry and mild conditions continued throughout June. By 7th July, however, conditions had reversed. The balance of the month saw three times more rain than normal and temperatures among the coldest in twenty years. The grapes began to swell with rain, but ripening did not advance. Throughout the rest of July and most of August, warm and sunny weather alternated with cool, rainy conditions.

Waiting for ripeness

Growers feared an outbreak of grey rot, although the cool daytime temperatures inhibited its spread and caused the skins to thicken. The sun returned from mid-August in abrupt fashion, and the sugar rose, and acidity fell reasonably quickly in the grapes, but this hotter period was punctuated with heavy storms that demoralised the growers.

Winemakers seeking to avoid dilution and the threat of rot began to pick in late August. According to Aubert de Villaine, however, the greatest difficulty in 2011 was to wait until the grapes were fully ripe. In the end, the Domaine waited until 2nd September for Corton and 5th September for the vineyards in Vosne-Romanée. The last to be picked was Echézeaux on 10 -11th September, and the team felt fortunate that the warm, dry weather held during this period.

Sorting was of the utmost importance in 2011. Some grapes had sustained sunburn in the spring; others did not ripen completely during veraison; and still others were lost to rot. It was only by eliminating all of these that Domaine de la Romanée -Conti could produce wines of quality that have stood (and continue to stand) the test of time.

The final step after sorting among the vines was using a vibrating sorting table at the winery, which in 2011 shook out a generous quantity of ladybirds. The presence of ladybirds in the crusher can cause the release of compounds commonly pyrazines that produce unpleasantly green aromas and flavours. The sorting table helped make the wines more successful than those from 2004, another year notable for ladybird taint.

Individual site expressions

In total, the draconian sorting necessitated by the conditions of 2011 cost the Domaine approximately 30% of their harvest. The results, however, justify the risks. The wines as a group are lovely, and they each reflect the character of the individual sites, which is not always the case in hotter, riper years. The Corton (only the third vintage for these vines for the Domaine) was an uncomplicated delight, with lush, forward fruit and a fresh and lovely balance, if somewhat lacking depth and concentration. This vineyard was the first to be picked.

The next wine tasted in ascending order of complexity is Echézeaux, which seemed a bit leaner on the palate and less generous, despite being picked more than a week later. The Grands Echézeaux was also somewhat restrained, while the Romanée-St-Vivant seemed much more forward and exuberant. This exuberance was similar to the taste of the Corton, but the RSV had more depth and substance.

From this point on, beginning with the Richebourg, the wines have more depth and power, continuing to La Tâche, which was perhaps the most opulent on the evening. However, none of our company would deny that Romanée-Conti had the most potential for aging and improvement of any of the wines.

My collector friend who generously invited me to the dinner opined, ‘It’s still young, but at least it has had a chance to open and is already delicious’. Indeed, aromas across the entire range are opening up convincingly. Although the Romanée-Conti was the wine of the night, each of these wines had its own charm and should continue to drink well until the next year of the rabbit.

Charles Curtis MW rates the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2011 wines

Related content

Domaine de la Romanée Conti 2017: eight wines revisited

Top Vosne-Romanée 2021 en primeur wines

Australian Pinot Noir: 25 exciting wines to try