Winemaker Notes
La Tâche is elegance and rigor. Beneath the frequent firmness of its tannins, passion is aflame, restrained by an implacable, courtly elegance.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 La Tâche Grand Cru is sublime. Mingling aromas of wild berries and bergamot with notions of rose petals, exotic spices, violets, clove and cinnamon, it's full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a multidimensional palate of breathtaking plenitude. Elegantly muscular, this is a vibrant, pristinely balanced wine that concludes with a long, resonant finish. More structured and broader shouldered than the ethereal Romanée-Conti itself, this will demand and richly reward bottle age.
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Decanter
Massive and with plenty of density, this retains a wonderful freshness with tannins and acidity poised on the palate, acting as a perfect juxtaposition to the wine’s power. Initially delicate and pure on the nose, the perfume builds in the glass and is almost intoxicating. So young, yet approachable already – it would be a pity not to keep this for a while to see how fine it will ultimately be. A wonderful La Tâche that certainly lives up to expectations. Harvested on 16, 17 and 18 September.
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Jasper Morris
The colour is not much deeper, an even dark crimson across the glass. The bouquet speaks of a wealth to follow. Darker fruit, with pepper, much more backward than the sublime Richebourg. Some detail starts to emerge on the nose but it feels like only a tiny percentage of the potential. The classic old roses show more on the palate, with black pepper, notably more tannins here, yet they are entirely in balance. Now the nose begins to speak a little more, reflecting the palate. Brooding and backward of course. The fruit builds back better, to cover the tannins.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
This is the village for the most die-hard Burgundy fanatics. Vosne-Romanée has for many hundreds of years been the source of the most sought-after Pinot Noir in Burgundy. The village claims six Grands Crus—and some of the most famous at that—but in other villages where owners manage tiny parcels or a few rows of any one vineyard, monopolies dominate the Grands Crus of Vosne-Romanee.
Of these monopolies, Domaine Romanee-Conti (DRC) reigns supreme, claiming not only more total vineyard area than any other producer, but outright owning the entirety of two of the Grands Crus and a majority of two others. In its full possession are naturally Romanée-Conti, as well as La Tâche. DRC also owns most of Richebourg and Romanée-St-Vivant. The final two, La Grande Rue and La Romanée are completely owned by other other produers: François Lamarche and Comte Liger Belair, respectively.
While one could spend a lifetime on the puzzles of land ownership in Burgundy, the point is that Vosne-Romanee contains the most valuable pieces of vineyard real estate in the world. Pinot Noir from any of its vineyards—especially from within its 27ha of Grand Cru or 58 ha of Premier Cru land—is going to rank among the best.
The most outstanding wines from this village have everything: finesse and elegance coupled with the body and sturdiness for incredibly long aging ability. They are intensely floral and exotically spiced. Beautifully ripe, complex and ephemeral throughout, they are robust, yet fine-grained in texture. These wines will stay gorgeous for the long haul.