As usual, the 2013 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru is more reticent on the nose compared to La Tâche at this point. As if fooling with you, it begins to unfurl with crystalline purity: Morello cherries and wild strawberry, wet limestone and wilted rose petals developing over time. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins, stunning balance and a feminine, winsome finish that goes on for a over a minute. Perhaps this is more nuanced than the La Tâche, but does not quite have the same dimension and depth. We’ll see.

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This is not as deeply hued as the La Tâche though it rarely ever is. The kaleidoscopically spicy, floral and complex nose however is a good deal more expressive, indeed almost surprisingly so given that it typically is quite reticent. In the same fashion as the La Tâche one aspect that is immediately clear is that 2013 is an emphatically powerful vintage for RC with its dense, serious and muscular middle weight plus flavors that retain terrific delineation on the extraordinarily pure and refined finish that seems to go on and on. The intensity does a slow build from the mid-palate to the explosive finale yet for all the robust power and intensity the overall impression remains harmonious and entirely Zen-like. This is, in a word, gorgeous.

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