After a 2021 to forget in Burgundy, thanks to frosts that reduced yields to their lowest in 50 years, the 2022 vintage was a ‘joyous, joyous’ one for the region and the wines of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. That was the adjective used by Corney & Barrow’s managing director Adam Brett-Smith as he opened a masterclass held in early February at the merchant’s London HQ to mark the release of DRC’s latest vintage, which is always released a year after the rest of Burgundy.
Fine weather and ‘good rain’ at crucial points of the year in combination with an absence of the catastrophic frosts and disease pressure of 2021 saw so much fruit in the Vosne-Romanée vineyards by late August of 2022 that bringing in the bumper crop took the Domaine two weeks (the best part of 15 days versus 10 in 2021). Perrine Fenal, DRC co-director, who was sat alongside Brett-Smith with Bertrand de Villaine for the masterclass, jokes that it brought ‘joy to the hearts and strains to the backs’.
Depth, freshness, balance and profound complexity are certainly recurring qualities across the wines
A warm April in ‘22 triggered early budbreak, an event Brett-Smith describes as a ‘rather alarming reminder of 2021’ in his notes on the vintage, but the fine weather continued (‘what a relief to be able to leave the candles in storage,’ says Fenal) and the vines flourished right through flowering until the end of May, aided by the first of the helpful downpours on 24 May.
More rain towards the end of a hot June stood the vines in good stead for the heatwaves of July and August. The 15-18 August then saw three more days of wet weather, rain that was ‘critical in establishing the beauty of the 2022 vintage’, says Brett-Smith, with ripening and maturity in the grapes accelerating afterwards ahead of harvest in more good weather.
The results, as one might expect of such hallowed wines in what is looking like an exceptional vintage for DRC, are spectacular across each of the cuvées. As de Villaine puts it, they have a ‘young generosity and friendliness, with the structure, balance and clarity that may well define great wines built to last.’ In addition to the concentration, depth and elegance of the vintage, he notes that cuveés have benefited in more nuanced ways; the Richebourg (£3,840 for a case of three, in bond) ‘came back with more of its personality this year’, which is perhaps little surprise when you consider so much of the fruit was spoiled in 2021. A commentor in the room agrees: ‘The Richebourg is much more Richebourg’.
More of a surprise to Fenal is the overall character of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti 2022 lineup at this stage: ‘The 2022s have a calm and serene quality; they are complete. They will evolve, obviously, [but] the serenity and balance is what surprises me.’ Depth, freshness, balance and profound complexity are certainly recurring qualities across the wines. Brett-Smith labels the Romanée-Saint-Vivant (£3,900 for a case of three, in bond) ‘magical’ and it’s certainly one of the standouts, saturated with concentrated, juicy, ripe red fruit, freshness and a silky, almost creamy texture on the palate – it’s a wine that could certainly be enjoyed immediately.
The 2022 La Tâche (£4,410 for a case of three, in bond) ‘is playing with us’ at this point in its life, according to de Villaine, but it’s still a favourite in the room along with the Échezeaux (£1,605 for a case of three bottles, in bond) and the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, and de Villaine believes the Domaine has achieved ‘the balance between accessibility and ageability’ in the wines. Indeed, Fenal points out that the ‘temptation is to drink them already, which you could as there is so much [compared with 2021]’.
Fenal summarises the 2022 DRC wines as ‘ripe but not heavy’ and de Villaine suggests that the year is even more balanced than the recent great ‘solar’ vintages of ’18, ’19 and ’20. The demeanour of the pair while sharing their thoughts on the latest vintage seemed to speak of a relief at a return to better days after the trials of 2021, while acknowledging the conviction that 2022 may not have been such a brilliant year without the one that preceded it. ‘If we didn’t have ‘21, we wouldn’t have 22,’ says de Villaine. Brett-Smith agrees: ‘Nature was listening,’ he says, ‘2022 has compensated for the 2021 with wonderful abundance.’
That abundance has translated to a dramatic increase in stock. For example, a touch under 7,000 bottles of La Tâche were made in DRC 2021, a number that has risen to almost 27,000 for the 2022 vintage, while the Richebourg increases from 4,260 to 14,500 bottles. The Corton-Charlemagne, which also impressed during the tasting, was the cuvée that benefited most from the vastly improved year, with production up from just 2,000 bottles in 2021 to 21,000 in 2022. Any collectors hoping that the bountiful nature of the latest vintage might miraculously influence prices will be disappointed – they remain identical to the previous year across the range.
