2008 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Richebourg Grand Cru

The 2008 Richebourg sweeps across the palate with a breathtaking combination of elegance and power. It is a huge wine that boasts tons of mineral-driven, pointed fruit with more than enough depth to fill out its broad shoulders. All of the elements build gracefully towards the intense, taut finish. The Richebourg is likely to require considerable patience. Anticipated maturity: 2023-2043. tasted the 2008s in bottle in late June 2011 after having gone through the 2010s from barrel. Aubert de Villaine describes 2008 as a difficult vintage with a lot of rain. Botrytis was an issue and the vineyards required constant attention. On September 14 the weather changed dramatically. A steady north wind dried out the grapes and concentrated sugars quickly, which also reduced the size of the berries. A further selection of fruit lowered yields to an even greater extent, resulting in overall production that is as much as 50% lower than normal for the Domaine. As for the wines, they are magnificent in my view, but will require considerable patience. Importer: Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA; tel. (707) 963-9661

Good deep red. Darker on the nose than the RSV, offering black cherry, violet, minerals and sexy oak spices. Denser, fatter and more voluminous but at the same time less showy and complex now, more masculine in style. This is less open than the RSV and yet it's utterly spherical wine, especially in the context of the year. Finishes suave and extremely long, with pepper and spice notes. Less perfumed and more brooding on the back than the RSV, suggesting it will need even longer in the cellar.

The 2008 Richebourg Grand Cru is a vintage that I have not tasted since 2011, just after bottling. I suspect it is a wine that will provide more drinking pleasure in its flush of youth. Just by observing the bricking on the rim, it seems more mature than its 11 years. The open-knit bouquet has developed a rustic, ferrous tincture, not herbaceous but certainly tertiary in style. It is undoubtedly attractive, but noble? The palate is beautifully balanced with gentle grip, the tannins a little coarse compared to other vintages with (again) that ferrous note toward the finish. It is a lovely Pinot Noir, but to be honest, a 2005 Grands Echézeaux a week earlier exposed the gap between extremely good and truly great. Tasted from ex-Domaine bottle at Corney & Barrow.