Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Corton 2016

94 / 100 Robert Parker
Surpassing the 2015 rendition, the 2016 Corton Grand Cru is the finest wine that the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has produced to date from the holdings of Prince Florent de Mérode. Wafting from the glass with notes of cassis, currant leaf, raspberries and menthol, discretely framed by new wood, the wine is medium to full-bodied, velvety and intense, gaining in depth and dimension as it sits in the glass, with tangy underpinning acids and powdery tannins, culminating in a long finish. Aubert de Villaine recounted that the Domaine replanted a third of Corton-Bressandes while also grafting over the Mérodes' young vines to their own massal selections of Pinot Fin. While this is built for four decade's evolution in the cellar, the balance and concentration are such that it could be drunk with pleasure in its youth. A morning spent with Aubert de Villaine provided an opportunity to taste the domaine's 2016 and 2017 vintages. From bottle, the 2016s are stunning, equalling or surpassing the profound 2015s. There is a vibrancy and weightless intensity to the wines that mark them out as very special indeed. When the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti produces a great vintage, there's nothing like it in Burgundy, and 2016 is a legitimately great vintage at this address. On the way to our tasting, we passed by the domaine's entire stock of 2016 Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux, bottled entirely in magnum. Those wines won't be released in early 2019: "perhaps we'll drink them, or release them later, we haven't decided", said de Villaine, pointing to a stack of bottles that would nonetheless elicit green envy in any other producer of those two appellations. Of vintage 2017, de Villaine reported that the domaine refrained from green harvesting in the belief that the vines' natural yield is the optimal yield. The wines, he observed, are "nicely balanced but slimmer than 2015 or 2016", an analysis with which I wholeheartedly concur, and to which I venture to add that the 2017s are suppler, more open-knit and will be adapted to comparatively near-term consumption. Moreover, after several years of low yields, there will, at last, be a certain quantity of wine to slake the thirst of an adoring—and sometimes, it must be said, uncritical—public. In 2017, it's also the case that the domaine's two monopoles stand head-and-shoulders above their other appellations in terms of depth, breadth and incipient complexity, a rapport that I've attempted to reflect with my scores.
Interim January 2019 Week 1, The Wine Advocate

18 / 20 Jancis Robinson
Vines aged 46 years, yield 22 hl/ha. Bottled 27 Feb and 31 May 2018. 420 dozen produced. Lightish crimson. Ethereal scent, subtle in the extreme but with many components comingled, currently a touch of exotic spice but also the freshest of red fruit – cranberry and raspberry. Deep and succulent on the palate, unbelievably smooth and still dense in a very discreet way. There’s a slight stemmy note of herbal freshness but it comes and goes rather than standing out. Gets more spicy and also stony/mineral in the glass. Excellent freshness that lifts the very long finish. So long.
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/tastings/search?keywords=co..

94 / 100 Allen Meadow
Ripe, fresh and restrained aromas of red and dark currant and a variety of spice elements combine with intensely floral, earthy and sauvage-inflected nuances. I very much like the texture of the delicious medium-bodied flavors that possess good power and plenty of minerality that deliver excellent depth and length on the balanced finish that really fans out as it sits on the palate. While there is a mild hint of backend warmth, this could eventually well be the best Corton that the domaine has produced.
https://www.burghound.com/tnsearch/index.php?id=271315