This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
DRC unveils tiny 2012 vintage
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has released its 2012 vintage against a backdrop of very challenging weather conditions and startlingly low yields.
The 2012 DRC wines on show at a tasting held by UK agent Corney & Barrow.
Cold, wet weather, followed by hail and a heatwave saw poor fruit set compounded by mildew, oidium, burnt berries to result in a final crop that, in common with many other producers in the region, was significantly below the estate’s average.
Most severely affected by hail, DRC’s Le Montrachet produced just 97 cases in 2012, compared to its usual 250-case average. Although less severely hampered, other vineyards also saw production fall, with around 60% of the estate’s crop lost in total.
Flagship wine Romanée-Conti saw quantities fall from a 450 case average to 350 cases, while La Tâche was down from 1,870 to 1,113 cases, Richebourg from 1,000 to 634 cases, Romanée-St-Vivant from 1,500 to 1,148 cases, Grands Echézeaux from 1,150 to 987 cases and Echézeaux from 1,340 to 1,057.
2012 also saw even smaller quantities than anticipated from Corton, the most recent addition to DRC’s portfolio, which produced just 242 cases at an average yield of 11hl/ha.
Despite the severe difficulties posed by 2012, which came on the back of a similarly challenging 2011, DRC co-owner Aubert de Villaine emphasised the quality of the fruit which did make it into the winery. Indeed, he described 2012 as “a harvest which, from a health point of view, is one of the finest in recent years.”
Although quality was preserved against the odds, these small quantities look set to inflame further demand and prices for the domaine’s wines, which have been commanding ever more vigorous bidding on the auction scene.
The end of last year saw a “superlot” of DRC set a world record when it sold for over HK$12 million (£1m) in Hong Kong. The domaine’s also played a major role in a recent announcement by US auction house Acker Merrall & Condit that Burgundy sales had overtaken those of Bordeaux for the first time in its history.