The tasting at Martel AG St.Gallen
The opportunity to taste the newly bottled 2022s from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is always a privileged moment, offering an early glimpse into how the domaine has navigated the growing season’s challenges and opportunities. As ever, what distinguishes these wines is not their power – though several cuvées are impressively concentrated – nor simply their aromatic expressiveness, but rather their seamlessness: tannins that seem woven rather than extracted, fruit that remains vivid despite the warmth of the year, and an overarching sense of harmony that speaks more to viticulture and élevage than to vintage conditions alone. These are wines built not on ostentation but on proportion.
Martel AG St.Gallen hosts a “one of a kind” DRC arrivage tasting every year. Unique in the world, especially by its size. 150 invitees (and 3x of that on the waiting list), 80 bottles opened, 1500 glasses poured. It is an experience that usually only a selected group of wine professionals have, to taste all DRC side by side after bottling. Jan Martel welcomed the guests with an talk covering the recent developments on the estate, the 2022 vintage, outlook on the 2025 vintage and – to everyone’s surprise – we received a copy of the book that Aubert de Villaine has recenty published, called “Romanée Conti, La Recherche”.
Entrance to the Pfalzkeller in St.Gallen’s old town, where the famous St.Gallen Abbey (UNESCO World Heritage) started and today the Cantonal Government resides
Vintage Overview: 2022 at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti
The 2022 growing season in Burgundy was very warm, dry and relatively problem-free from a disease perspective and it yielded wines of surprising freshness and equilibrium. At DRC, meticulous canopy management, deep-rooted old vines, and patient, low-intervention winemaking ensured that ripeness was achieved without excess. Despite the summer heat, alcohol levels remained moderate, acidities retained definition, and phenolic maturity was excellent.
Today I found the reds to display ripe but vibrant fruit profiles, supple tannins and a sense of immediate charm that will make them accessible earlier than more structured vintages such as 2005 or 2015. Yet beneath their approachability lies enough concentration and structural integrity to sustain meaningful aging. The whites, meanwhile, show impressive tension given the warmth of the growing season, with Corton-Charlemagne in particular exemplifying the precision and class that careful viticulture can coax from this terroir even in sunnier years. Overall, 2022 is a vintage of generosity, purity and surprising classicism – one that DRC has shaped into a remarkably coherent and compelling set of wines.
Jan Martel introducing the recent developments at the domaine. Perrine Fenal (from the Leroy family) and Bertrand de Villaine (from the de Villaine family) who have taken over the domaine management in 2022 from Aubert de Villaine
Tasting Notes
Flight 1 – DRC reds
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton Domaine Prince Florent de Merode, 95 Points
The 2022 Corton is impressively sensual out of the gates, offering a lifted bouquet of ripe red berries, sandalwood, rose petal and discreetly integrated oak. This is a notably charming rendition of the Mérode holdings- framed by supple tannins and bright, delineated acids. Though Corton is often more austere in youth, the domaine’s meticulous farming and gentle extraction have delivered a wine of unusual finesse and immediate appeal, without sacrificing the structural spine that will ensure graceful evolution.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux, 94 Points
The 2022 Échezeaux is notably approachable in its youth, bursting with aromas of ripe berry fruit, sweet spices and subtle florals. On the palate, it’s supple, charming and expressive, reflecting the warmth and generosity of the vintage. While not the most profound wine in the cellar, it offers considerable immediate pleasure and will provide delicious drinking in the near to medium term. 94-95
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux, 96 Points
The 2022 Grands-Échezeaux is a step up in depth and structure from the Échezeaux that precedes it. Aromas of blue and black fruits mingle with pine resin, spice and undergrowth. The palate is layered and fleshy, supported by firm but polished tannins and a long, mineral-laden finish. This is a serious, tightly coiled wine that combines power with control. A strong performance that underscores the inherent grandeur of this terroir.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St. Vivant, 96 Points
The 2022 Romanée-Saint-Vivant is a perfumed, graceful wine, offering a delicate bouquet of red cherry, peony, exotic spices and forest floor. It’s lighter framed than Grands-Échezeaux or Richebourg, and today it shows a certain reserve that will require bottle age to fully articulate. Nevertheless, its refined tannins, lifted aromatics and seamless palate bode well for a graceful evolution. Typically one of the domaine’s most seductive cuvées, give it a llittle more time to flesh out.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg, 97 Points
The 2022 Richebourg is a powerful, tightly wound young wine, reminiscent in its architecture of vintages such as 2005. The nose offers dark cherry, violet, spices and crushed rock. The palate is broad and vertical, with abundant but beautifully ripe tannins and vibrant acids. Despite its imposing structure, it remains fresh and dynamic, and its long, resonant finish suggests remarkable potential. Today it stands clearly above the Romanée-Saint-Vivant for its depth and authority, even if its best years lie far ahead.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche 100 Points
The 2022 La Tâche, noticeably a step up from all the previous Crus – already unfurling that characteristic “peacock’s tail” of spice, florals, sous-bois and whole-cluster perfume. On the palate, it’s deep, layered and intensely structured, with a palpable sense of energy and dimension. The interplay of ripe fruit, savory nuances and beautifully sculpted tannins is compelling. Even at this nascent stage, it displays the authority and completeness that have long defined La Tâche. A profound wine in the making. 99-100
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti, 98 Points
The 2022 Romanée-Conti is characteristically ethereal. Its bouquet marries red berries, rose petals, sweet spices and subtle earthy nuances. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, refined and exquisitely perfumed, its satiny tannins and seamless integration already striking at this early stage. While lighter in extract than La Tâche, it compensates with haunting aromatic purity and an unbroken line through the finish. A wine that privileges grace and perfume over raw power, and which seems poised to add a point or two from here. 98+
Flight 2 – DRC Whites
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton-Charlemagne, 98 Points
Always one of the most classical wines in the cellar, the 2022 Corton-Charlemagne is superb. It opens with aromas of citrus zest, white peach, hazelnut cream and wet stones. On the palate, it’s satiny and concentrated, displaying impressive depth without excess, underpinned by racy acids that carry the wine through a long, chalk-inflected finish. The domaine’s wel-judged oak regimen emphasize the wine’s inherent tension. This is a brilliant Corton-Charlemagne – succulent yet serious, and destined to age beautifully.
2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet, 96 Points
The 2022 Montrachet is a powerful, broad-shouldered wine, delivering the richness and amplitude that are hallmarks of this great climat. Ripe orchard fruit, warm pastry, confit citrus and subtle toast tones unfurl in the glass. It’s an authoritative, textural Montralchet, a little too blowsy for my taste though with its considerable concentration. Admirers of the richer idiom of white Burgundy will find much to celebrate here, even if its sheer weight places it stylistically apart from the more chiseled Corton-Charlemagne.
Author: Christian Raubach, WSET III, FWS, WSG Champagne Master
November 2025
