2022 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: The Lightness of Being

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | MARCH 19, 2025

I admit I approached the 2022s from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti with some trepidation. Given reports of extreme, record-setting warm and dry weather, I feared a repeat of 2020, a year in which the wines were unusually dark and concentrated. Those concerns were quickly allayed as soon as I started tasting the 2022s. The wines are absolutely brilliant. Elegant and poised, the 2022s are not only captivating, but they also offer that most elusive of all qualities in fine wine: the ability to convey the essence of site.

The range of 2022s, followed by two library wines for additional context

I tasted the 2022s with Co-Managers Perrine Fenal and Bertrand de Villaine at the annual tasting organized by longtime American importer Wilson Daniels, held this year at Le Bernardin. As is the custom, two library vintages were served after the tasting of the new vintage for further context. I have included notes on those bottles and a pair of additional wines I tasted recently. My only quibble with the tasting is that the wines were served too warm. Pre-pouring delicate wines in a warm dining room is a recipe for trouble. This is a mistake that quite simply can’t happen at this level. I apologize for being so direct, but these wines deserved better care.

Tasting the 2022s from barrel, November 2023

The 2022 Growing Season

After severe frost in 2021, vines unleashed their stored energy in 2022, presaging a large crop, a sort of rebirth for the vine that is quite common after shock events. Generous yields would turn out to be one of the blessings of 2022. Cold morning temperatures in April did not threaten the crop. Heat and drought later in the month led to an early budbreak. That theme continued through May. Benign conditions resulted in a fast and even flowering that was completed by the end of the month. There was a bit of rain in May, then a more important episode towards the end of June. July and August were extremely hot and dry, pushing some vineyards into hydric stress. Rain in mid-August helped the vines reestablish a measure of balance. Harvest began on August 30 with the Corton and wrapped up on September 13 with the last of the Echézeaux and Corton-Charlemagne. In the cellar, fruit was healthy and required minimal sorting, while juice yields were abundant. Yields came in around 40 hectoliters per hectare, a veritable bounty by present-day standards in Burgundy. Barrels stacked three high in the cellar is an exceptionally rare sight at the domaine, but it happened with the 2022s. 

Romanée St. Vivant and Richebourg are among the standouts in the collection of 2022s from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

The Proof is in the Glass

Cutting to the chase, 2022 is a fabulous vintage for the domaine. Readers who have access to these wines will not want to miss them. With generous yields on the vine and benign weather, intense heat and drought proved to be quite manageable. In tasting, the 2022s are vivid and red in the glass, a stark contrast to the dark, imposing 2020s. Brisk acids and modest alcohols around 13% help exalt the personality of each site. Quite incredibly, the wines show no signs of a year that was the hottest on record. Once again, the Romanée St. Vivant is my personal favorite, as it encompasses all the qualities I seek in Burgundy, namely elegance, understatement and expression of place, but the reality is that all the wines are exceptional.

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