de Villaine: 2013 was a ‘disastrous’ vintage

Aubert de Villaine, co-director of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, has spoken out about the 2013 vintage in Burgundy, describing it as “disastrous”.

Corney & Barrow’s Adam Brett-Smith with DRC’s Aubert de Villaine

Speaking to db during the 2013 trade tasting of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at Corney & Barrow’s London offices today, de Villaine said:

“It was a disastrous vintage in terms of quantity as so little wine was made. Hail at the end of June hit several villages hard like Pommard and Volnay.

“We had an issue with coulure due to cold and rainy conditions. There was also a botrytis problem in September that affected a good number of clusters and diminished the crop a lot.”

Mother nature’s wrath led 2013 to be the smallest vintage in Burgundy in the last 13 years, but de Villaine believes “a natural thinning” of the crop meant that the grapes he was left with were “of high quality”. Just 4,000 bottles of Romanée-Conti were made in 2013 compared to a 5,400-bottle average.

Romance-Conti and La Tâche 2013

When asked to choose a standout wine from the 2013 vintage, de Villaine picked Romanée-Saint Vivant, describing it as the “most charming” of his wines that year, and a wine “wanting to attract attention but not wanting to show it.”

2013 is the fourth difficult year in a row for Burgundy, though Corney & Barrow’s managing director Adam Brett-Smith is confident of the quality of the wines in the DRC stable.

“The beautiful quality continues to fascinate me in spite, or perhaps because of the malevolent conditions in which it was born,” he said.

“There is a tenderness, a sense of balance, a relaxed profundity and above all a transparent fidelity to their respective terroirs that will make this ‘forgotten’ vintage a future classic,” he added.

In bond prices for three bottles of the wines through Corney & Barrow include Richebourg at £1,790; Romanée-St-Vivant at £1,888; La Tâche at £2,205; and Romanée-Conti at £6,345.

In the tasting booklet given to members of the trade lucky enough to be invited to the tasting, Brett-Smith waxes lyrical about the wines. His tasting notes are so effervescent and poetic, we felt obliged to print the edited highlights below.

Corton: “The nose offers delectable, spicy, red and black fruits and an impression of waxen plumpness, almost of gloss. The palate is sweet and gentle on entry.

Echézeaux: Beautiful nose of dark, spicy sandalwood red fruit, blackberries, blueberries and characteristic Echézeaux toffeed flamboyance. This is a pleasure giving (and seeking) wine with sweet charm and effortless length.

Richebourg: At this stage Richebourg wears the vintage on its stashed velvet sleeve. There is a suspicion of ‘all mouth and no trousers’ but the length is close to massive.

Romanée-St-Vivant: The nose combines the intense with the elusive with sherbet-fresh red fruit perfume and a subliminal exotic sweetness. The wine seems utterly at ease with itself and slightly ashamed at its own wantonness.

La Tâche: The nose offers creamy and dark summer fruits and a fathomless depth of opacity, which is both exciting and frustrating. This is a teaser for the profundity that is yet to come.

Romanée-Conti: “There is a luminous, other-worldly quality to this extraordinary wine. The nose is open with pure old vine red fruits and an almost talcum-fine perfume. The wine is elusive, infinitely old and young at the same time and rather beautiful.