2012 Romanee St Vivant
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Tasting notes
The 2012 Romanée St. Vivant Grand Cru is majestic. I don't know how else to describe it. Deep and layered, with tons of palate presence, the 2012 is spellbinding from the minute it is served. All the elements are in perfect balance. The 2012 is a pretty powerful RSV that very much shows the character of a year with tiny yields. I admire its stature. Readers lucky enough to own it should be thrilled. The 2012 can be enjoyed now, but I would prefer to give it another few years in bottle. I loved the 2012 on release and I love it today, even moreso. Unforgettable. Tasted at a private dinner.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
The 2012 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru is a wine that I have not tasted since just after bottling. Three years on, it is clearly a class act. Lucid in colour, it has a captivating, exquisitely defined bouquet with that “ethereal purity” I remarked on previously. Cranberry and wild strawberry, freshly shucked oyster shells and brilliant focus. Maybe it has just tightened up in recent months. The palate is framed by precise tannin. This feels deep but light-footed and nimble, very focused with just the right amount of bitterness towards the finish. Just a beautiful wine that is just beginning to enter its stride. Tasted blind at 67 Pall Mall in London.
An intense, almost exotic wine, the 2012 Romanée St.-Vivant takes the elements that make RSV such a distinctive site and simply amplifies all of them. Dense and yet also seamless on the palate, the 2012 RSV will need considerable time to shed its baby fat, but it is impressive just the same.
Usually one of the more seductive, feminine wines in the range, the 2012 Romanée St.-Vivant is unusually powerful and structured. Huge, searing tannins and super-expressive, bright acidity both are a prominent today. The 2012 is going to need a number of years in bottle to approach the early part of what is likely to be a very long drinking window. A huge finish totally drenched with saline notes is breathtaking, if not especially typical of RSV. Needless to say, the 2012 is going to be a fascinating wine to follow over the next several decades.
About the producer
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti or simply “DRC” is without doubt the most famous domaine in Burgundy and one of the most famous producers on earth. The Grand Cru vineyard from which it takes its name produces the world’s most expensive wine by a long margin.