Winemaker Notes
This wine of great complexity reveals a superb spicy nose, expressing notes of licorice, violet, and red fruits. The amplitude of this wine unfolds on the palate highlighting its elegance and aromatic persistence. A harmonious wine combining soft tannins and a great earthiness.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is like staring into an abyss, but being overwhelmed with joy. The essence of fine pinot noir and of Burgundy, which you don’t need to be any kind of expert to appreciate. Enormously concentrated, but so graceful, this makes you want to forget everything else you are supposed to be doing. Lean back and let yourself be overwhelmed. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Sourced from a vineyard just a stone’s throw from Romanée Conti, this perfumed wine introduces itself with strikes of fresh raspberry, rose petal and sweet mes- quite. It’s penetrating and pure in red fruit flavors but ruffled by hints of anise, smoke and dusty earth. Editors’ Choice.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The king of the cellar is the 2019 Romanée-Saint-Vivant Grand Cru Les Quatre Journaux, a full-bodied, layered and muscular wine that's rich and concentrated, evocative of peonies, blackberries and exotic spices. Long and penetrating, this is very promising. Range: 93-95
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Louis Latour Romanée-Saint-Vivant Les Quatre Journaux is what Burgundy lovers dream about and rarely get. This is an outstanding wine. TASTING NOTES: This wine brings active red fruit and mineral notes to the party. Savor it with a generous serving of garlic and rosemary-infused roast leg of lamb. (Tasted: July 1, 2021, San Rafael, CA)
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.