Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2021 Richebourg Grand Cru is another of the more quiet wines in this range. It offers up hints of crushed flowers, sage, tobacco, dried herbs, mint and cedar. Readers will find an especially aromatic, mid-weight Richebourg. The long, understated finish makes me hopeful for the future, but this is a Richebourg of subtlety rather than power.
Critic scores
Average Score
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Co-director Bertrand de Villaine noted that production was down here because they have pulled out 80 ares by the road (in Les Verroilles) because they found Richebourg to be more elegant without the fruit from those vines. They are going to replant that parcel in Les Verroilles to improve the quality of the plant material, using, for example, rootstocks 3309 and 420A but the replanting is currently delayed by rain . Vines are 60 years old, harvested 29 September and 1 October, yield 11.8 ha/ha. Total production 355 cases of 12. Bottled 13 January 2023. Light to mid ruby. The sweet red-fruited perfume of the Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Cuvée Duvault-Blochet is here but also the irresistible perfume of peony and the fragrance (but not the sweetness) of mulberry. Leafy notes from the stems become more evident with time in the glass. The tannins, super-fine, are a little drier here than on the Romanée-St-Vivant, not chalky but heading in that direction. Lingering, delicate, with a light stemmy flavour and grip on the finish. (JH)
The 2021 Richebourg Grand Cru was cropped at just 11.8hL/ha on September 29 and October 1, bottled on January 13, a day after the Romanée-Saint-Vivant. It has a more arresting bouquet, by comparison, much more tertiary, perhaps the stem addition requiring more time to be fully assimilated. Darker fruit than the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, hints of pencil shavings and Earl Grey filtering through with aeration, engendering more mercurial aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins, a gentle grip, a silver bead of acidity and quite a peppery finish. It's not as weighty or as multi-dimensional as other vintages. I want to wait and see whether this Richebourg loses its nascent grumpiness. At the moment, I much prefer the Romanée-Saint-Vivant. 355 cases produced
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.