From just 1.814 hectares, Romanée-Conti produced 7,521 bottles in 2017.

The vineyard is a monopole: the entire Grand Cru is owned by Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

2017 was relatively generous by Romanée-Conti standards, yet the total production still amounted to only 7,521 bottles. It was also the final harvest for Bernard Noblet, the cellar master who had shaped the domaine’s wines for decades.

What “monopole” means in Burgundy

Romanée-Conti lies in the village of Vosne-Romanée in Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits.

The vineyard covers 1.8140 hectares and is a monopole, a French term meaning that one owner controls the entire named vineyard.

This is unusual in Burgundy, where famous vineyards are often divided among many growers. Romanée-Conti is both the name of the Grand Cru vineyard and the flagship wine of the domaine that owns it.

For readers new to Burgundy, Grand Cru is the region’s highest official vineyard classification. Romanée-Conti received its appellation in 1936 and produces red wine from Pinot Noir.

Exactly 7,521 bottles in 2017

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti publishes historical production figures for the vineyard.

The 2017 Romanée-Conti totalled 7,521 bottles.

For comparison, the domaine records 5,281 bottles in 2016 and 4,029 in 2018. The 2017 crop was therefore generous in the context of recent Romanée-Conti vintages.

Even so, 7,521 bottles is an extremely small global supply. The number reflects both the vineyard’s tiny physical size and the domaine’s emphasis on controlling yields.

Romanée-Conti was picked on the morning of 8 September

The 2017 growing season was early and productive across Burgundy.

At the domaine, harvesting began in Corton on 4 September. La Tâche followed on 6 and 7 September.

Romanée-Conti itself was harvested on the morning of 8 September 2017, before the team moved to Richebourg that afternoon.

The domaine described 2017 as unusually generous in both quantity and quality. Early budbreak, intense June heat and welcome rain at the end of August all shaped the final ripening period.

The 2017 Romanée-Conti was fermented as whole clusters

One of the most distinctive technical details of this vintage is that Romanée-Conti was vinified entirely with whole clusters.

In red-wine production, grapes are often destemmed before fermentation, meaning the berries are separated from the green stems. Whole-cluster fermentation keeps the bunch intact and ferments berries and stems together.

The domaine’s 2017 harvest report states that destemming was minimal across the vintage and that Romanée-Conti itself was not destemmed at all.

That choice is especially relevant for international readers trying to understand the style of the vintage: the wine was built not only from the ripeness of the fruit, but from the structure and aromatic contribution of the entire bunch.

Bernard Noblet’s final harvest

2017 also marks an important moment in the history of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

It was the final harvest of Bernard Noblet, the domaine’s long-serving cellar master.

Noblet joined the domaine in 1978 and later succeeded his father, André Noblet, in the cellar. He oversaw the winemaking through decades of celebrated vintages before retiring after the 2017 season.

The domaine marked the end of the harvest with a special Paulée — Burgundy’s traditional harvest celebration — in recognition of his career. Alexandre Bernier, who had worked alongside Noblet for years, went on to succeed him.

Why the vineyard is called Romanée-Conti

The name reaches back to the eighteenth century.

In 1760, Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, acquired the vineyard then known as La Romanée. The association with the prince eventually gave the vineyard the name Romanée-Conti.

In 1869, Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet acquired Romanée-Conti, beginning the ownership history that leads to the present domaine.

The modern bottle therefore carries several layers of history at once: a 1.814-hectare Grand Cru, a monopole, an eighteenth-century name and a vineyard whose annual output is still measured in only a few thousand bottles.

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti 2017

France | Burgundy | Côte de Nuits | Vosne-Romanée | Grand Cru | Monopole | Pinot Noir | 2017 | 7,521 bottles produced

Harvested from a 1.814-hectare monopole on the morning of 8 September and vinified as whole clusters, Romanée-Conti 2017 combines an unusually generous crop with a historic turning point: Bernard Noblet’s final harvest at the domaine.

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