2019 Romanée-Conti Corton-Charlemagne, 2019 Cyprien Arlaud Vosne-Rom Aux Réas, 2005 Louis Jadot Bonnes-Mares

An evening at Buona Terra very generously hosted by Sir Bob on 25 September 2025 where he had also procured a bottle of the latest white of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, its Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru. All wines were tasted blind. The whites stole the show; without knowing the labels, the honest palate truly senses that each of them was excellent in its own way, proving once again that quality exists across all price points. Many thanks, Sir!

Champagne Ruinart Brut NV, courtesy of Sir Bob. Clear golden. Gentle notes of yeast and gun smoke minerals unfold with a relaxed rounded crystalline clarity, yielding lovely detail with understated acidity. Grew in stature over time. Moderate finish.

2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet, courtesy of Sir Bob. Clear golden. Distant notes of caramel and frangipani on the nose and beautifully rounded palate, coiled with agile intensity with a high-toned acidity. More reductive over time, displaying sharp delineation of complex but subtle minerality. Remarkably youthful after twenty-one years, even more so for Leflaive.

2017 Claire Naudin Clematis Vitalba. Aired for four hours ahead. Displaying a clear golden lustre, this wine opens with notes of distant chalk and cool floral hues from the fleshy density of lithe citrus, developing a tangy focus and growing salinity amid a backdrop of recessed chalk and austere minerals in equal measure. Held its ground against the Leflaive and D.R.C.

2019 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, courtesy of Sir Bob from the restaurant list. The initial impression is a wine of considerable age, dull golden with an oxidative nose of floral orchard and beeswax amid an understated chalkiness, leading to a darkish rounded cool elegance in the mouth. It firmed up quite quickly with sharper definition, fuller and more effusive as its generous tone teased the palate with a superbly-controlled ebb and flow, coiled with tight balsamic tension underpinned by a persistent gluey undertone, staying the course for the rest of the evening without any further evolution. The only concern was that it seemed more evolved than expected for a young Grand Cru. A bottle problem? Difficult to say but, for sure, we couldn’t quite pin it down as Corton-Charlemagne; a couple of us felt this same wine had tasted very differently during its launch at a FICOFI event. Made from seven plots totaling seven acres (2.83 ha) leased from Bonneau du Martray, the 2019 is the inaugural vintage.

2019 Cyprien Arlaud Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas. Deeply coloured. Only the village version (as opposed to the Michel Gros Vosne-Romanée 1er Clos de Réas monopole) but this is so expertly crafted, boasting a velvety warmth and density of ripe dark cherries, rose petals and haw with a deep core of rubies within a sleek body of lithe tannins underpinned by a dash of tarry undertones. Beautifully integral, displaying refined intensity and precision.

2021 Domaine Ponsot Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cuvée des Alouettes, courtesy of Dennis. Deeply coloured. with quite an exuberance of red fruits and haw laced with tangy spice. Quite full and harmonious on the palate though the fleshy tannins took on a slightly angular stance amid a backdrop of warm gravel.

2022 Domaine Méo Camuzet Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Chaumes, courtesy of Jonny. Deep purple. Forward balance of blackberries and raspberries with a warm ripeness. Rounded and highly supple, well-integrated with unobtrusive tannins and refined acidity.

2005 Domaine Louis Jadot Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru, courtesy of Kieron. Very deep crimson. Highly aromatic in perfumed rosy hues still tinged with vanillin and enamel from the excellent density of velvety red fruits underpinned by a high-toned acidity, structured with lithe tannins that yield subtle detail with a dash of spice and earthy pungency.