La Tache 2008 Domaine de la Romanee Conti

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Robert Parker (97)

From barrel, the 2008 La Tache displays intensely ripe, berry-tart concentration of cassis, red currant, and blackberry, wreathed in musky floral perfume, and backed not only by marrowy meat stock richness, but by a deep, oceanic melange of alkaline, saline, mineral and animal elements that brought to mind Romanee St.-Vivant. Seamlessly sweet, subtly silken, and vibrantly bright, this finishes explosively, with tactile impingement of black pepper and brown spices adding to its brashly fresh fruit and mineral intensity. There is a striking transparency on display here, in the sense that floral, spicy, maritime, and stony elements seem to shimmer through the fruit. When I remark on this aspect, de Villaine points out that “the selection in the vineyard and press house was intense and impeccable” which, he suggests, also goes a long way toward accounting for the wine’s degree of tannic refinement. Needless to say, I am sure this wine’s active life span will be measured in decades, not years.