2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Saint-Vivant Marey Monge Grand Cru

Vines 45 years old on average, yield 39.8 hl/ha. Harvested 7, 8 and 10 September. Bottled 6, 7, 9 February 2024. Total production 1,975 x 12. Lightish mid cherry. Sweet blackberry aroma, sweet yet not sweet. With air, incredible fruit intensity. Immaculate tension between fruit and freshness and super-fine tannins. And lightly peppery. Seductively open raspberry and damson fruit. Just a hint of savoury oak. This impression of fruit sweetness is derailed by the fact that the wine is not at all sweet, nor especially floral. Silky, lightly peppery on the palate, too. Tannins build on the palate, to a firmer al dente texture, ineffably long and fresh. Then all that wonderful fruit on the finish. The whole-bunch component starts to show as the wine opens. Already so harmonious and complete. (JH)

The 2022 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru was picked 7, 8 and 10 September at 39.8 hL/ha. It needs a little time to unfold in the glass. Scents of crushed iris flower commingle with predominantly red berry fruit, hints of peat and even camphor. This augurs a powerful and opulent RSV. The palate is silky smooth and rounded in texture, with what feels like slightly lower acidity than the preceding Grands-Échézeaux. It retains the veins of blue fruit that I observed from barrel. A light touch of white pepper emerges towards the multi-faceted finish. This is very alluring and sensual, showing wonderful persistence with a touch of Szechuan pepper lingering at the tip of the tongue on the aftertaste. Impressive, but outclassed by the Richebourg at the moment. Perhaps this cuvée bares the imprimatur of the growing season more than others? 1,975 cases produced.

The 2022 Romanée-St-Vivant Grand Cru was picked on 7, 8 and 10 September. It's another of the more expressive, immediate wines in the range this year, bursting with aromas of dark berry preserve, confit orange, peonies, spices, smoked meats and new oak. Full-bodied, fleshy and unctuous, with a deep core of fruit, no hard edges and sweet structuring tannins, it concludes with a perfumed, vanillin-inflected finish.