Richebourg 2006

The Domaine's 2006 Richebourg leads with ripe, bright red fruits and smoked meat; fills the palate with sweet fruit concentrates and abundant, fine tannin, while tart notes of fruit skin, bitterness of cherry pit, and bittersweet vanilla lend counterpoint and invigoration; and finishes with striking suggestions of smoked and roasted meat as well as crushed stone and iodine. What starts out suggestive of sweetness and light, turns dark and brooding. If you don't find that too depressing a metaphor to contemplate, and if you have patience (and, naturally, the requisite budget), this should be seriously worth revisiting from around 8-15 or more years of age. The Domaine de La Romanee-Conti harvested from the 20th-25th of September (commencing with Richebourg) and subjected the crop to rigorous sorting. Understandably, the viticultural meticulousness at this estate as well as its team of some 60 highly-skilled and –motivated pickers paid dividends in the context of a challenging vintage. Director Aubert de Villaine and cellarmaster Bernard Noblet vinified their 2006s with a lesser share of stems and whole clusters, and exposed them to new wood for a shorter period (thereafter racking into older barrels) than the corresponding 2005s.

Score: 93

David Schildknecht, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2009-2024 01 December 2009

An extremely pure and equally restrained nose of red berry fruit and a range of spices that include hoisin, soy, clove and a perfumed incense character plus intense floral notes, including rose petal and violets of which glimpses can also be found on the vibrant and very firmly structured full-bodied flavors that culminate in a long, powerful and understated finish of immense length. The character here is completely different than that of the RSV because while the muscle of the RSV is more like that of a world class gymnast, here it is body builder-like without being coarse or inelegant. Most impressive and this is a bit like the GE in that the natural elegance of the '06 vintage has tamed somewhat the inherent tendency for there to be a certain robustness in Richebourg to create a harmonious whole. Now that the wine is in bottle, it struck me as a block of stone from which only the vaguest outlines of the final form of the statue have yet to emerge. Superb potential.

Score: 95

Allen Meadows, Burghound Maturity: 2023+ 01 January 2009