S
otheby’s Wine is delighted to present our first live auction of the season, Fine & Rare Wines | Iconic Burgundy, Bordeaux and Napa. The sale opens with a bang, headlined by a pristine 1990 DRC Assortment Case, never opened and fully banded prior to our inspection. More DRC, along with Leroy, Pétrus and Le Pin follow in iconic vintages 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1990. The sale continues with young Bordeaux from the blockbuster 2015 vintage in original wooden casing, with names like Lafleur, Cheval Blanc, Lafite and La Mission well-represented. Seventeen consecutive lots of DRC ensue, spanning 4 decades and three vineyards. Premier and Grand Crus from Leroy and Raveneau give way to the legendary 1961 Hermitage La Chapelle before the sale shifts to a domestic focus with Screaming Eagle, Hundred Acre, Harlan, Sloan and Bryant Family prominently featured. Anchoring the sale are aged classics from Bordeaux including 1982 Lafite in original wooden casing as well as rarities Haut Brion and Margaux from the historic 1945 vintage, DRC from 1960 and 1966 and Massandra from the 1930s and 1940s.
The Domaine, as it is known, is iconic. Much more important, it also produces the most extraordinary wines in Burgundy - and it has been doing so for a long time. The generations responsible for the Domaine change, but the terroir remains. And these are very special vineyard parcels indeed, married to meticulous care and philosophy leading to low yields and healthy, ripe grapes, at whatever cost. From the 1990s, vineyard policy has been organic, with co-owner Aubert de Villaine monitoring everything with his usual attention to detail. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti wines evolve and develop dimensions in a way that resembles a mosaic – points of bouquet and flavor making up a harmonious whole that becomes more beautiful as it unfolds in the glass. Yes, these are hedonistic wines and yes, they are not like any other. The trick is in capturing what these remarkable plots of vines can give and letting them express themselves through minimum intervention and enlightened nurturing.
Please see below for individual vineyard descriptions.
– SERENA SUTCLIFFE, MW
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View Lots 90-238
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