Few tastings are as thoughtfully organised as Corney & Barrow’s relatively new annual Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “masterclasses.” The setting is impeccable: beautifully printed, well-researched materials, ample time to taste in silence, and, as a rare privilege, the presence of Perrine Fenal and Bertrand de Villaine, co-directors of The Domaine (as Adam Brett-Smith would have it).

However, writing about DRC presents a dilemma: what’s left to say? It may well be the most exhaustively documented winery in the world. At least three books are dedicated entirely to it, alongside countless articles. But rather than attempting to unearth something entirely new, one can take the wealth of existing data and use it to sharpen the focus—placing the latest vintage in context with those that came before it.

A data-driven report

Consider vine age. Over the past two decades, the average age has notably increased—settling at around 60 years for Vosne-Romanée’s Grands Crus and roughly 30 for those in Flagey-Echézeaux. Remarkably, yields have remained largely steady throughout this period.

While older data might seem less pertinent to today’s releases, it offers valuable insights into how vintages have evolved over time. With that in mind, we reviewed every vintage from 1995 to 2022. This retrospective approach not only charts the domaine’s overall development but also highlights the subtle distinctions among its Grand Crus.

Tasting the 2022 vintage

Abundance was the defining theme of the vintage—by a considerable margin. The domaine produced a record-breaking 154,000 bottles, far exceeding even the most generous harvests of 1990, 2009, or 2020, which barely crossed the 115,000 mark.

We began with the Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Cuvée Duvault-Blochet, a cuvée made from the domaine’s young Grand Cru vines, with a significant portion sourced from La Tâche. Released only in select vintages, it remains a compelling alternative to La Tâche itself—less concentrated, certainly, but also far more accessible in price. A shame, then, that it is reserved for restaurants.

Corton is a relatively new chapter in Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s story, first introduced in 2009. The grapes come from three parcels on the eastern slopes of the hill— Le Clos du Roi (0.57ha), Les Renardes (0.5ha), and Les Bressandes (1.2ha) —all leased from Domaine Prince Florent de Mérode.

Historically, Clos du Roi and Les Renardes (alongside Clos Faiveley) have been regarded as the hill’s finest sites. Les Bressandes, by contrast, is more varied in soil composition. Yet DRC’s parcel within Les Bressandes may well be in the vineyard’s sweet spot, tucked between the western edges of Clos du Roi and Les Renardes, with a soil profile that closely mirrors both. Heading further north and west towards Ladoix, you encounter Comblanchien limestone, which lends a subtly different character.

Sourcing the right oak—and, by extension, the right barrels—is a challenge, even for the best domaines with private allocations of wood reserved for them. Perrine Fenal noted that for 2022, for the first time, they had three rows of stacked barrels in their cellar. Given the unexpectedly high yields across the Côte d’Or in this vintage, it’s possible that the barrels used for Corton were different from their usual selection. With increased demand, even a domaine like DRC isn’t immune to shifts in material. [Update: A reliable source confirms that the oak was, in fact, the same as usual.]

As per The Domaine’s sequence, we moved on to the Grands Crus of Flagey-Echézeaux. Both of which performed admirably in 2022, yielding over 80% above the average.

The Echézeaux is sourced from 4.68 hectares across two distinct climats, Les Poulaillères and Clos Saint-Denis. Traditionally, Clos Saint-Denis was seen as the lesser site, but Perrine Fenal notes that meticulous vineyard work has brought its quality in line with Les Poulaillères.

Located at the central 3.51ha of its total of 9.14ha, DRC’s Grands Echézeaux benefits from this terroir’s deeper soils, a milder slope of around 3%, and an altitude of 260 m. Traditionally held in higher esteem than Echézeaux, it stands closer in calibre to the best Clos de Vougeot. In our tasting, it showed greater structure and slightly higher concentration than Echézeaux, suggesting it has the potential to age longer—a trait conventionally taken as a mark of ‘superior’ wine. Even so, we found it already enjoyable to drink, a view seemingly echoed by DRC’s decision to bottle this vintage earlier than usual.

The Vosne-Romanée crus followed, marking a noticeable step up in quality from the previous four wines.

Romanée-Saint-Vivant (RSV) is drawn from the largest single plot in the climat—5.28 hectares of the total 9.43—situated right next to the winery. In contrast, Richebourg comes from two lieux-dits: Les Richebourgs (2.57 hectares) and Les Verroilles (0.94 hectares). Notably, Les Verroilles, with its slightly northern exposure, enjoys a marginally cooler climate, even though the soils are virtually identical. In fact, the soil composition of Richebourg mirrors that of La Tâche, comprising Ostrea acuminata marl, clayey limestone, and Prémeaux limestone. Meanwhile, Romanée-Conti sits between the same fault lines as these two Grands Crus, though the strip of Prémeaux limestone in this area is instead claimed by La Romanée.

Yields in Romanée-Saint-Vivant reached their highest levels since 1990, while Romanée-Conti saw its most abundant production since 1982.

Although Richebourg enjoyed impressive yields this year, the overall bottle production remained at an average level due to the replanting efforts in Les Verroilles.

La Tâche and Romanée-Conti were both bottled earlier than usual, which suggests they are more approachable from the outset and need less micro-oxygenation. This is particularly intriguing for Romanée-Conti, a wine that normally demands a substantial period of bottle ageing.

Since 2018, DRC has been leasing 2.9 hectares of Le Charlemagne (Aloxe-Corton) and En Charlemagne (Pernand-Vergelesses) from Bonneau du Martray, with its first vintage appearing in 2019.

Although The Domaine presented only its Corton-Charlemagne at the tasting, we have every reason to believe it was an exceptional vintage for their Montrachet as well.

Conclusions and price

In short, the wines are representative of the 2022 vintage. With no frosts and an early flowering hinting at an abundant crop, the season—though overall drier and warmer than the past two decades—benefited from well-timed rain and ample sunshine. This fortunate combination yielded the best harvest for DRC since 1990, while striking a fine balance between phenolic ripeness and alcohol. Compared with the particularly dry and warm 2020, 2022 enjoyed more hours of sunlight and received less overall water, but crucially, rain fell at just the right moments. Early summer was notably warm, yet a gentle cool down in late August extended the harvest by about a week compared to 2020, albeit still much earlier than usual, as our analysis shows.

Apart from Corton and Romanée-Conti, most wines are ready to drink, with many cuvées bottled considerably earlier than normal.

In the primary market, prices remain nearly unchanged from 2021, continuing a steady rise with each vintage since 2005. A linear regression of Romanée-Conti’s inflation‐adjusted prices suggests its value doubles roughly every 25 years—Montrachet in 26 and La Tâche in 34. With a quality comparable to Romanée-Conti, La Tâche arguably offers the best long-term quality-to-price ratio, especially in a vintage like this. As for Corton-Charlemagne, I’m inclined towards Bonneau du Martray’s new style, which also come at a more attractive price, while the Corton Rouge was the only one that didn’t quite win me over.