DOMAINE DE LA ROMANEE-CONTI La Tache Grand Cru 'Monopole' 2018 Bottle

Description

The 2018 La Tâche Grand Cru has received exceptional praise, earning up to 100 points from Jasper Morris and 98 points from Decanter. Its profound ruby colour hints at the wine's elegance, complemented by a haunting bouquet that combines floral notes of rose petals with complex Asian spices and darkest red fruits. The palate delivers an initial sweetness that masks a measured build-up of layered concentration, fine structure, and extraordinary freshness. Critics highlight its remarkable balance and the ethereal quality that allows all its intricate flavours to shine without any sense of weight. Vinous notes the strong whole-bunch influence and silky tannins, leading to a saline finish. With a drinking window from 2030 to 2040, this La Tâche promises to be a magnificent experience.

*****

JASPER MORRIS - Inside Burgundy - 5 STARS (97-100 points)
"Very even full purple, classic nose, future rose petals, certainly even now floral alongside the fruit. Haunting bouquet. Superb balance, a load of black and white pepper, slightly firmer tannins as ever, then this rush if roseate sweet cherry fruit to finish. Except it doesn’t really finish. Tasted Nov 2019."

CORNEY & BARROW 19.5 points
This was the last of the Grands Crus to be picked, brought in on the 12th of September. Beautiful profound ruby colour. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a young La Tâche in which the ingredients, infinitely complex and intricate are offered with such startling clarity. The nose is primal for sure but fantastically exotic, with Asian spices, that characteristic eastern tea leaf perfume (which almost always comes with much greater maturity), darkest red fruits and fascinatingly flowers - lavender and rose - all of these presented with an almost atmospheric lightness of touch.
The palate is sweet initially, deceptively so for it masks the calm, measured build-up of layered intense concentration, profound powder fine structure, perfect extraction and quite extraordinary freshness and length. The magic is the fact that with all these powerful ingredients and almost ridiculous complexity and purity there is no sense of weight whatsoever. Unearthly. And the greatest young La Tâche I have yet tasted.
Recommended drinking from 2030 - 2040+

DECANTER 98 points
Blind tasted by Tim Atkin MW(at 2018 En primeur tastings, Burgundy, 20 Oct 2019)
Part of Best Burgundy 2018: Top scoring wines
The grand old lady' is how Bertrand de Villaine refers to La Tâche, now planted with 50-year-old vines and responsible for one of the great wines of the vintage in 2018, as it so often is. This is a Grand Cru with incredible presence and self-assurance, showing remarkable balance, grace and intensity, the majesty of a great, soaring cathedral, fine texture and flavours of green malt, red berries and autumn leaves. Wonderful stuff.
Drinking Window 2028 - 2040

VINOUS (95-97) points
The 2018 La Tâche Grand Cru exhibits quite a strong whole-bunch influence on the nose, perhaps a little too much when juxtaposed against the more seamless Richebourg. Scents of black truffle, pressed rose petal and decayed autumn leaves/undergrowth infuse the mainly dark fruit. There is something a little introspective about this nascent La Tâche. The palate is very well balanced with filigreed tannins. A multifaceted wine that leans more to the red side of the fruit spectrum. The silky, saline finish shows wonderful sapidity. Once the aromatics open for business, I have little doubt that this will be an awesome yet quite cerebral La Tâche. - Neal Martin