Romanée-Conti: why is it the world’s most expensive wine?

It is the name of one vineyard, rather than a brand or region. Burgundy's finest sites have Grand Cru status, each with its own appellation. Romanée-Conti is one, halfway up the Côte de Nuits slope where soil and sunlight produce the most consistent results.

Known since medieval times, the vineyard was cultivated by monks from nearby Saint-Vivant Abbey. In the 18th century it was simply “La Romanée”. In 1760, the Prince de Conti, a royal relative, bought it, supposedly outbidding Madame de Pompadour. He kept the wine for his own table and his name joined the site's.

After the Revolution, the vineyard was sold as national property and changed hands several times. In the 20th century it passed to the de Villaine and Leroy families, who managed it together for many years.

1. Little wine: under two hectares, small harvests and worldwide demand.
2. One owner: no competitor makes wine with the same name.
3. Centuries of reputation: kings and connoisseurs drank it; every Burgundy book mentions it.
4. Allocations: importers receive quotas, often in mixed cases with other estate wines.
5. Auctions: older vintages sell here. In 2018, a 1945 bottle fetched over half a million dollars, a wine record.

The price reflects rarity and fame as well as taste. Many professionals admit it is outstanding, but the difference from the finest neighbouring Grands Crus is smaller than the price gap.

In the late 19th century, phylloxera, a root-destroying insect, swept Europe. Almost everywhere, vines were replanted on resistant American rootstocks. Romanée-Conti kept its old ungrafted vines until 1945, fighting the pest as best it could. The plot then had to be uprooted and replanted; the first new wine was bottled only in the early 1950s. 1945, the final old-vine vintage, is therefore highly prized.

A constellation of Grands Crus surrounds Romanée-Conti, some also made by DRC.

DRC also makes red Échezeaux and Grands Échezeaux, Corton, and white Montrachet and Corton-Charlemagne.

Romanée-Conti is not a “powerful” wine. Its Pinot Noir is transparent and pale, but extraordinarily long: red berries, rose, spices and woodland earth, then mushrooms and tea with age. Tannins are soft and acidity lively. These wines open up fifteen to thirty years after harvest, and great vintages last longer. Opening it young makes little sense.

Read more in “Pinot Noir in France”.

The cellar is closed to tourists. Professionals visit only by invitation. The vineyard, however, borders a quiet road behind the village:

• the stone cross at the plot's edge is the main photo spot;

• a sign asks visitors not to enter rows or pick grapes; please respect it;
• La Tâche, Richebourg and Romanée-Saint-Vivant are visible nearby, with a half-hour walk along the slope;
• village estates offer tastings of village and Premier Cru wines by appointment.

Vosne-Romanée is around twenty-five minutes by car from Beaune and thirty from Dijon.

To understand the village's style without spending thousands:

Prices vary greatly by producer and vintage. Label reading is explained in “Grand Cru and Premier Cru”.

Romanée-Conti is among the most counterfeited wines. Rudy Kurniawan's notorious fake-Burgundy case involved DRC bottles too. Buy only from official sellers with a bottle history; check provenance at auctions. A “bargain” bottle is almost certainly fake.

The domaine belongs to two families and has long been managed by representatives of the de Villaine family. Vineyard work is manual, without chemical pesticides since the late 1980s, followed by a move to biodynamics. Some plots are ploughed by horse to avoid tractor compaction.

In the vineyard:

• very low yields, short pruning and removal of excess bunches in summer;

• hand-harvesting only, with table sorting;
• old vines replaced individually, preserving the vineyard's average age.

In the cellar:

• fermentation in wooden vats, often whole-bunch, including stems;

• ageing in new oak barrels, around eighteen months;
• no filtration.

None of this is secret: many good Burgundy growers work similarly. The difference is the site itself, producing the slope's best results for centuries.

Collectors have their lists: 1945, the final old-vine year, then 1978, 1985, 1990, 1999 and 2005 among the most famous. Even average years yield great wines: difficult years demand more work, but the site still speaks.

Romanée-Conti is opened for special tastings rather than passed around a casual dinner. These rules suit any old Burgundy:

• stand the bottle upright the day before to settle sediment;

• open an hour before, but avoid long decanting, since mature Pinot is fragile;
• serve at 16–17 °C;
• use a broad Burgundy glass;
• pour small amounts and follow it through the evening: it changes every half-hour.

Driving from Dijon to Vosne-Romanée takes you through other villages with world-famous Grands Crus:

Château du Clos de Vougeot is one of the few places open to all, with old Cistercian presses and the famous Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin wine brotherhood.

Walk between vineyards from Vougeot to Vosne-Romanée in an hour, following stone clos walls and site-name plaques. September before harvest and October's red-and-gold leaves are best. Bring water and comfortable shoes: paths are gravel and shade is scarce.

Critics argue that the price has become detached from taste and buyers pay for the name. Others note that even experienced sommeliers do not always identify it blind among neighbouring Grands Crus. Others say speculation means hardly anyone drinks it: bottles spend years moving between collectors like paintings.

The domaine counters this through trusted importers, requests not to resell and no advertising. Vosne growers say the site has made the slope's finest wine for centuries and it is good that people want to try it. If offered a glass, accept without expecting a miracle: expect exceptionally delicate, long Pinot Noir, best understood after tasting a dozen modest Burgundies.

Avoid strong sauces and hot spices. Choose simple dishes: roast poultry, guinea fowl, pigeon or duck, veal with mushrooms, truffle risotto or pasta, mature Comté or Cîteaux, the monks' cheese from an abbey twenty kilometres from Vosne. Avoid Époisses, whose powerful aroma overwhelms the wine.

1. Thinking Romanée-Conti is a brand with many wines. It is one vineyard; other DRC wines have different names.
2. Confusing Romanée-Conti with Vosne-Romanée. Vosne-Romanée is a village and village appellation, costing dozens of times less.
3. Arriving at DRC without an invitation. The cellar is closed.
4. Opening a young bottle. It needs years.
5. Entering vine rows for photos. It is private land.

Our Burgundy wine tour follows the Côte de Nuits from Gevrey-Chambertin to Vosne-Romanée, stops by the Romanée-Conti cross and tastes village wines with growers. → Burgundy wine tour · Grand Cru and Premier Cru. Discover the wines on location on a Burgundy tour.